Sly Cooper: Lost in Time
by M2the2ndpower
Summary: Following the events of Sly 4, this story documents Sly's journey through time. Author's Note: 4/20/15: The story is finally finished. The last true chapter will be posted today along with a bonus chapter.
1. Don't Wake Me

~Location: Carmelita's Apartment - Paris, France~

~Date/Time: Present Day, 11:47 PM~

Carmelita Montoya Fox wandered around the vibrant party setting, seeing important guests and undercover Interpol members like herself everywhere she looked. However, none of these guests interested her tonight. There was someone more important that she needed to be with.

Slinging her purse over her shoulder, she finally found him. 'Constable' Sly Cooper was casually leaning over the banister railing, looking out into the night sky. Fireworks lit up the sky in a pink hue and produced a genuinely romantic moment for her. She didn't dare question why he was here or question the purpose of the coincidental fireworks display, she just relished in the moment.

She was about to approach him when the handcuffs that dangled from her purse clanked. She nonchalantly slipped them into her purse, mentally cursing away an old habit. Silently, she approached him as his back was turned, not seen until it was too late. The most that Sly could do was turn to face his attacker and raise his hands in surrender. Carmelita acted swiftly, tying the loose tie around his neck into a fancy red bow. Sly lowered his hands and smiled, embarrassed that his old habits had reacted for him. Carmelita simply laughed and hugged the raccoon tightly, earning an embrace in return.

While the purpose of the fireworks will remain a mystery, the purpose of the party was clear. The occasion was to celebrate the arrival of new artifacts for display. A few nights later, Carmelita was watching security footage for the museum when she found Sly hiding inside. The idea that he could be here to steal something right from under her nose made her snap. She rushed to the museum to stop Sly only to find that he had an ancient Japanese dagger in hand and was making his escape. Looking out the window as the Cooper van sped away, she felt anger. Pure anger.

###

The fox now sat up in her bed, tears in her eyes caused by waking up from a perfect dream. It was more than a dream... It was a memory. Since the night that she had caught him red-handed, she had always felt alone. She did see Sly again several times later, but they were always so harsh to each other. They barely had a moment together before Le Paradox's blimp imploded, the moment before Sly was lost forever.

If only they had treated each other differently... If she only knew how he felt sooner... The thought had brought to another happy memory. Holding the slightly charred photo in her hands, she was taken back to this memory, remembering almost everything in detail. They had an afternoon date together on the streets of Paris like any couple would. Sly randomly suggested to take a couple's photo while using the Eiffel Tower as the backdrop. Standing together for the photo, the moment was normal. They looked like a happy, young couple that was about to get a picture taken together. The fact that they were once on different sides of the law didn't matter to them now. It would've been a convincing picture, even if Sly wasn't planning something. Timing it perfectly, he lightly kissed Carmelita on the cheek, momentarily stunning the fox. Everything was captured at once in that more-than-perfect picture. His lips hadn't left her cheek yet. The shock of the moment had just hit her and her eyes widened in surprise as the camera captured the moment.

This was originally a happy moment, but it made Carmelita feel bad, finding it charred after Sly had vanished. The fact that Sly had developed the photo and kept it with him to the end was a blunt reminder to one fact: He loved her. Pure and simple. She already knew this and he knows that she loves him, but her work had distracted her in a contest of mind over heart.

Standing up out of bed, she searched for something under her bed. She pulled out a shoe-box and placed it on her bed before opening it. It may have been childish to keep little mementos about the relationship that she had with the thief, but she didn't care. This was her treasure chest and what she needed to do right now was to admire the loot. Notes, pictures, calling cards, and fake roses to represent real ones littered the bottom. All of these treasures gave her the hope that she desperately needed. It's been months since Sly had disappeared, but she never lost hope. Carmelita admired the photo in her hands for some time before setting it among the other keepsakes. After burying her secret collection, she climbed back into bed, pulling a pillow to her waist and hugging it. She did what any lonely lover would do and imagined that the pillow was Sly's waist, no doubt thinking of hugging him when he returned and hugging him every night afterwards.

###


	2. Start with Ancient Egypt

~Location: Blimp Crash Site - Egypt~

~Date/Time: 1300 B.C. Time of Day: Unknown~

Sly stirred as the sunlight beamed directly at him. He woke slowly, opening his eyes to see the Cooper Cane resting by his side. He picked it up and staggered to his feet, dazed. When he completely came to, he was immediately aware that something was different. The pieces of Le Paradox's blimp lay scattered before him, some of them half-buried in sand.

_"__Sand?"_ Sly thought this as odd. Where was he?

The answer to the question came to him as easily as looking a bit further. In the distance, Sly saw a large statue of a jackal's head. Below that, Sly could make out a temple. There was a staircase leading up to its entrance.

Behind that, Sly saw a few other structures. They were even larger than the temple. Sly noticed that the buildings were pointed. The walls of the building angled upwards to a single point at the top. Bentley mentioned these to be 'pyramids', a common aspect of architecture in Ancient Egypt.

Egypt... That's where he is... Ancient Egypt, to be exact.

How did he know this for sure? Bentley told him. Well, not right now, but when he first learned about them, Sly was curious as to why present-day pyramids looked very sloppy. There soon followed a lecture with plenty of words that Sly either forgot or never heard. The basic story that he knew was that the pyramids from the present are older than when they were first built in Ancient Egypt. Sly made an analogy with the rusty penny that you occasionally find on the street and was told that the basic principle was the same, just on a much larger scale. Sly was certain that he was in Ancient Egypt because the pyramids in the distance looked almost brand new.

Sly had been practically admiring the scenery when he finally heard his own heavy breathing. He realized that he was not only panting, but sweating. The raccoon felt exhausted. His duel with Le Paradox felt like it happened less than hour ago. It wasn't helping much that he woke up from a nap in the hot sun. As he stood there, looking over the wreckage of the blimp, a gust of wind had stirred from behind him, covering most of the metal parts (as well as Sly) in a thin layer of warm sand.

"Ugh... I hate sand now..." Sly groaned. "I didn't play outside in the sandbox at the orphanage... I think I know why now..." Sly tried to shake off some of the sand. This proved to be unsuccessful as it seeped into his clothes. He hurriedly took off his sweater and shirt, tossing them aside. Removing layers of clothing and sand gave Sly a bit of relief. That relief was instantly vanquished when he realized that he was even more exposed to the hot sun. Another sandy gust was adding insult to injury.

"AH! I REALLY HATE SAND!"

"There! This way!"

Sly flinched as he heard voices in the distance. Looking towards them, he saw several figures emerging from the temple's opening. His ears flattened as soon as he could make out that they were carrying spears.

_"__Something tells me that they aren't the welcoming committee..." _He expected to hear Bentley right behind him, appearing just in time to rescue him. There was no such luck. Sly turned to run, but could only see empty sandy dunes ahead. Besides, Sly was in no shape to run and he could never last long out in the desert.

His only option was to be captured. To be taken inside. Maybe he could find food or water there. Maybe he could find a place to rest until he is rescued? Thinking quickly, Sly looked around for something to cover himself. He picked up some of the fabric that the blimp was made of and shook most of the sand off of it before making a shawl. He held his cane at his side, the exhaustion making him lean slightly for support.

When they finally approached them, Sly was glad that he didn't try to fight head on. Aside from the fact that they carried spears, they were wearing golden chest armor and each of them carried a sword at their waist. There was also more than Sly can handle in a direct face-off. These guards were more muscular than the average patrol guard that Sly had been used to.

When they finally saw Sly, they slowed to a fast walk. Sly had hoped that they didn't see him as a threat.

"Shepherd? Are you alone?" One of them says this as the others walk around him, looking around with their spears in hand. Sly took notice that the first guard was missing a portion of his ear.

Sly nodded. "I'm alone. I've lost my way and can't go back."

The first guard questioned Sly's statement. "You are lost? Which way did you come from?"

Sly played along with his act, pointing in some random direction. "From there. I have no supplies to return home. Might I acquire some?"

The remaining guards mumbled amongst each other before the leader turns to Sly. "Follow us. We will give you what you need."

Sly bowed in respect and followed the group back to the temple. Sly was momentarily distracted by the sights and sounds of the ancient city in its prime. Before they got too far inside the city limits, the leader walks alongside another guard and whispers something inaudible. The second guard looks back to Sly, smirking and nodding before splitting off and taking a side street.

Sly took note of this and also noticed that he was lead through a scenic route through town. The poor lived on the outskirts, and the wealthy lived near the center. Sly was being lead through the poor district towards the center of town. Looking ahead, he saw the same guard as before, running ahead of them. He was suddenly pulled from the side into an alleyway.

The lead guard saw this happen, barking an order at the remaining two to hold Sly and quickly follow before he ran off. Sly was grabbed by the arm and rushed over to where the first guard had spotted a trail. Someone had dragged someone into the alleyway. The first guard led the hunt, while the other two dragged Sly with them. Sly felt relieved as the alleyway was shaded and out of sunlight.

The alley soon diverted into a four-way path. The guards left Sly in the center as they split up and searched. Watching all three of them from his vantage point, Sly jumped as one appeared as if he was tackled by a shadow. The attacked guard was able to cry out briefly, alerting the other two. The remaining guards returned to where Sly was, the first one growled and questioned Sly directly. The other one shook his head, taking the first guard away from Sly. The first guard growled as he noticed a shadow in the distance. Turning to his comrade, he gave a short command, ordering the second guard to check it out.

The guard was promptly removed from sight, convincing the leader that something was not right. The remaining guard turned and ran for his escape. Sly was about to chase and attack him, but a shadow appeared in front of him and held him still.

"Let him go. Someone needs to tell the story."

"Who are you?"

"It's none of your concern, shepherd. Go home."

"It is my concern and I can't go home. I'm nowhere near home!"

"Sorry to hear that, but if you're seen, they'll kill you on sight."

"Kill me?"

"Or... At least let the Pharaoh decide what to do with you."

"Why would they kill me? I'm just a shepherd."

"I doubt that... No shepherd owns enough gold to make a crook out of it. Who are you?"

"I... Wait a minute... Slytunkhamen?"

The shadow froze, slowly walking into the light so that the sun can reflect off of his jeweled clothing. The shadow wielded two small canes that were like Sly's. Sly even saw a ringed tail behind him as the shadow fully came into view.

"Actually, my name is Slytunkhamen Cooper II. Now, I'll ask again. Who are you?"

"It's a long story..."

"It looks like we have plenty of time. Better get to telling."

###


	3. Joining Forces

~Location: Last Confirmed Location of Le Paradox's Blimp - Paris, France~

~Date/Time: Present Day, 1:30 PM~

The hippo sighs as he looks out in to the view. From where he stood, he had a great vantage point of the City of Paris, seeing the magnificent Eiffel Tower in the distance. As the hippo looked out it to nothing specific, a turtle confined to a wheelchair approached. The hippo smiled, knowing that the turtle was his good friend, Bentley.

They waited there, neither of them saying anything. Just a few feet away, a fox clad in a tan leather jacket and navy blue jeans stood looking over the same vantage point and in the same direction. The turtle notices her and smiles, breaking the silence. "It's great to see you, Inspector."

"Likewise." The fox smiled at them, having been recognized by these close acquaintances that she was growing to consider as family. Murray and Bentley grew up with Sly as his brothers and she grew to become infatuated with Sly. It's only natural if two groups secretly become allies.

They've done so in the past, so why not now?

Bentley turned for the first time since the conversation began, rolling over to where the fox stood. He had a frown on his face as he notices that the fox arrived empty-handed.

Carmelita notices his frown and sighs, her tail swaying back and forth. "I was hoping that you have something... I guess I was wrong."

"Well..." As the turtle began, the fox perked her ears, turning and kneeling to Bentley's height.

"You know something! What do you know?"

"I don't have an exact knowledge, just general theories. It'll make you feel worse if you hear them."

"Let me be the judge of that."

"Alright... The design of Le Paradox's time tunnel was not much different from ours. There's a key difference though. While our design needed a physical object, the blimp did not. Theoretically, Sly could be any point in time. We can only hope he survived the journey. For all we know-" The turtle stopped when the hippo placed a hand on his shoulder, looking to see that the fox had tears in her eyes.

"I haven't lost hope either, Inspector..."

"Can you give any good news?"

"As a matter of fact- mind you, this is another theory- I wager that Sly cannot be any point in the future. If he was sent to the future, then he'd find the future versions of us and the time machine. He'd already be with us if that was the case."

"Run that by me again..."

"Sly's lost in the past. As to how far back, I don't know."

"Well... What can we do?"

"If I know Sly as well as I should, then he's bound to tell us some-way or another. Murray and I will see if Sly left a message in his belongings. Inspector, I would like your help tracking down the remaining team members. They might have some information for us."

"Who would that be?" Carmelita said, pulling out a notebook.

"Aside from Sly's ancestors, there were multiple persons that were official Cooper Gang members. You, the Panda King, Dimitri, the Guru... Penelope... I can actually narrow your search down quite a bit. The Panda King wasn't involved in the chase against Le Paradox. Last I heard of him was that he returned home to China to oversee his daughter's suitors."

"What else?"

"The Guru wasn't involved either. He returned home shortly after our last mission."

"You mean the overly-complicated mission of getting Sly and I closer together?"

"Well... Yeah."

"Well... Your mission succeeded..."

"Glad to know."

"So the only people involved were Dimitri and Penelope?"

"Yes. Last I heard of Dimitri was that he relocated his dance club shortly after realizing that you were involved. As far of Penelope, she escaped her prison cell and her whereabouts are currently unknown."

"Unknown for not much longer... Count on that."

"I wish you good luck, Inspector. Oh and... One favor..."

"What would that be?"

The hippo glanced at his friend and the two of them shared a nod. "You're the most capable of us to track down Dimitri. If you wouldn't mind... Murray and I will track Penelope."

"You want me to find Dimitri? Why?"

"I think it'd be easier if you went. You're more persuasive against him."

"Fair enough."

"Alright. I'll get in contact with you if we find anything."

"I'll do the same." The two went their separate ways, Carmelita returned back to her car and contacted her superiors. "Barkley. I have a lead on the Cooper Case. I'll keep in touch. Fox is on the hunt..."


	4. Mouse Trap

Location: 'Europe's Highest Security Prison' - Denmark~

~Date/Time: 2 Days Prior to Event 'S', Midday~

The small female mouse lounged nonchalantly on the shabby bed, staring up at a dull-grey ceiling. Her cell was small and secure. The constant video surveillance, an hour-long window of 'freedom' from her cell, and the employment of guards with actual brain cells made any chance of escaping this prison a near-impossible feat.

The mouse did not care. She wasn't doing anything to escape. Most of her daily routine was now devoted to staring at the ceiling and recalling where she went wrong.

It started when she officially met Le Paradox. They first met anomalously shortly after the mission regarding the Cooper Vault was resolved. Le Paradox somehow learned that Bentley was producing a time machine. Le Parodox's plan initially involved black-mailing Penelope with details about the ACES Tournament. Once she gave him the blueprints and designs at the skunk's request, he knew that he needed someone to design a prototype suited for the blimp. The mouse was starting to get a headache, recalling that a need for weaponry became her motivation. Following her hostage experience, she felt a need to retaliate against the world. She had taken charge, crafting her own involvement in Le Paradox's scheme.

The skunk still won, pulling the rug out from under the mouse's feet and leaving her to waste away in prison.

So now she lay on her shabby little bed in her dull grey room, staring up at the ceiling. A guard patrolling in front of her cell glared and laughed at her. She saw that he had a regular RC car in his hand. It made her burst up from her bed and call the guard back.

Whatever foul things she said to the guard got his attention. She made a grab for the car and he dodged it, pulling out a baton and swiping at her hands. The timid mouse immediately apologized, but promised to behave if he gave her the car. The guard slid it half-way behind the bars and she reached for it. The guard immediately pulled it from her grip and smashed it on the ground before walking away. Penelope could only reach through the bars and collect the broken parts, crying softly. She heard the guard laugh in the distance.

When he was out of sight, she smiled and set the pieces along with something extra off to the side. "Geez... Even in a place like this, guards are still brainless."

Under the cover of the night, she made her escape. A hidden toolkit in her glove made rebuilding the car as simple as like child's play. Adding the guard's electric fire-arm to it was still too easy. Reprogramming the music player (that she previously bargained for) to serve as a controller took some time, but it was a success. Before the camera that monitored her had enough light to see what she was doing, Penelope tested her car's weapon out on it before taking it for a drive.

Around the holiday season, there was a limited number of guards in the Prison, all of them silenced and robbed of supplies. She was able to unlock her cell before hacking the security footage for that night. As a final touch, she broke the bars and left her mark on her cell wall, making it look like she escaped that way. The cameras reset on her way out, guards regaining conscious some time afterwards and having no idea what happened.

Penelope had escaped prison.

###


	5. Haunting Memories

~Location: Diana's Home - Massachusetts~  
>~DateTime: Present Day, 2:03 AM~

It had been a quiet night for those in that quiet little town. The crickets chirped as a gentle breeze drifted around the night sky. A spark of light appeared against the dotted background. This spark was brighter than the others. As soon as it has appeared, it was gone; replaced with an object trailing a line of fire across the night sky. It appeared as if it was getting... closer... It was getting closer.

It was inevitable that the object was going to strike the ground. What was unclear and unknown was what said object was. The object did strike dirt, but not before striking the roof of a barn first.

The crashing object woke the adjacent home-owners from their peaceful sleep. The man of the house cooed comfortingly to his wife before heading out to confront the intruder. He is revealed to be a local of the small town; his appearance is that of a grey-furred wolf.

The wolf was armed with a blade that he forged himself, approaching where he heard strange noises. The canine called out questioningly, drawing that blade now.

Even though the noises stopped from the barn, the wolf pressed on the wooden doors and stepped inside. That was when the world went dark for the canine who had been unfortunate in a way that he would soon learn.

There were brief flashes of what was happening, the wolf fading in and out of consciousness. He saw blurs and felt random instances of agonizing pain before blacking out to nothing. The wolf did see his attacker, horrified by what the figure was.

The creature was vicious, a winged metal demon with soulless and glaring red eyes. It spoke in a voice, a chilling and soulless voice.

The wolf was found sometime later, having no physical scar tissue left behind. The canine was being nudged awake, his name being called by his beloved.

###

Grimm Hund stirred in his sleep, being nudged awake. He found himself on a couch in Diana's apartment, the golden retriever nudging the wolf to try to wake him. He recalled that her old home had been giving her nightmares while his home wasn't a suitable place to live. They had both decided on living together without actually knowing it.

"Please wake up..." Diana called again, nudging Grimm back to reality.

"D-Diana? What's wrong?" The wolf rolled onto his back looking towards the retriever.

"Were you having another nightmare just now?"

"Not really... I wouldn't call it a nightmare."

"What was it about? Was it the dream about you in the barn that you've told me about?"

"No... This one was different... I've never seen it before. I was in a sandbox, I think... A large empty sandbox... What does it mean?"

"I... don't know. I can't think of anything right at the moment. My head's a little fuzzy right now. But, I do know this..." Diana kneeled to the couch, placing a hand on Grimm's cheek. "Whatever pain you went through that many years ago is over now. Whatever pain you felt then made you who you are."

"Do you think I should seek help?

"Whatever it is, it waited this long. It could wait until morning." Diana started to get up and walk to her room but she felt herself tug on something. Grimm had a grip on her hand.

Or... at least she thought so. The reverse was true. Her hand had gripped his and didn't let go.

"You're not sleeping well either, Diana..." Grimm said soothingly. "Were you the one having a nightmare?"

The golden retriever let go of the wolf's hand and sighed, hugging her own torso. She shook her head softly, sitting next to Grimm as he sat up on the couch. "I was diagnosed with nyctophobia and PTSD in the hospital... They suggested sleeping with a night-light and a stuffed animal for security... It's not helping anymore. It may have been part of the reason why I came to you."

"I see. We both need to get some rest tonight. There must be-" He paused in mid-thought with a small smirk.

"What is it?"

"Would you like to try sleeping in the same bed? Just for tonight. If at any point during the night, you feel uncomfortable or come to the conclusion that you don't like it, push me out of your bed and I'll go back to the couch."

"You sure? You're okay with it?"

"Yeah. Like I said; if you aren't okay with it, then it's done."

"L-Let's try it. Come with me..." She cooed, pulling on his arm again.

The two of them were smiling and blushing like a young couple would be in this situation as they made their way to her bedroom. Once Diana lay upon the bed, Grimm crawled into bed behind her and wrapped an arm around her waist. She rolled onto her back to give him a soft kiss and nuzzled into the crook of his neck. Naturally, the two of them fell asleep like that in her bed, awakening hours later still entwined in each-other's arms. Before Grimm completely fell in deep sleep, he might've heard her soft voice say something.

"You're my cuddle-buddy now..."

###


	6. I Promise, We are Related

~Location: Rural City - Egypt~

~Date/Time: 1300 B.C., Midday~

"I don't believe you..." The older raccoon scoffed at Sly, shaking his head in disbelief.

The younger raccoon sighed softly, scratching the back of his neck with his cane. "What is so hard to believe?"

Slytunkhamen raised a brow questioningly. "All of it. You are too young to be my elder ancestor and I've never had a son. I don't even have a wife yet."

"Not yet... You will."

"It's hard to settle down when I'm an enemy of the Pharaoh."

"Heh... Just wait..."

"Enough of this... I'm wasting my time with you."

"Just hear me out... Alright... I'm from the future."

"Future? You take me for a fool? How is that possible?"

"I- You... wouldn't believe me."

"Can you tell me anything that I'd believe?"

Sly thought about it for a moment, recalling the notes on his Egyptian ancestors from the Thievius Raccoonus. As he thought about it, he took a drink from a canteen of water that Slytunkhamen had provided. The idea came quickly. "Yeah, I can. Look up your father's entry in the Thievius Raccoonus..."

The older raccoon paused for a moment, walking out of sight and returning with a newly wrapped book. Sly smiled softly as he recognized the family heirloom. Slytunkhamen cleared his throat, opening the book and sifting through the few written pages.

"Sly, right? I have my father's entry. What do you know about it?"

"I know his technique, the 'Shadow Power', and I've mastered it." Sly demonstrated by vanishing and watching his ancestor's jaw drop.

"Alright! I believe you! We are related! What do you want from me?!"

Sly reappeared, casually leaning on the wall. "I need your help to get home."

"And... where are you from, exactly?"

Sly smiled and shook his head. "I told you already."

"R-Right... How do we get you home?"

"Um... Still working on that..."

"How did you know about my father? And our book?"

"Well... I read that book a long time after you do. The book that your father gave to you is the same book that my father will give to me in about 3,000 years. I have an idea... Do you have a pen?"

"A what?"

"A pencil? No? Ack... What was it... What do you write with? I'll write a note to my friends and they'll see it."

Slytunkhamen returned with a reed and pigmented water in a small clay jar. "You think that would work?"

"I don't have many options, do I?" Sly dipped the reed in the ink and gestured for the Thievius Raccoonus.

Slytunkhamen shook his head, pulling back the book. "The blank pages after my father's pages are for me to tell my life."

"Then I'll write on a different page."

"I can't let you do that. You've read this book before, right? What page did you write on?"

"I never got a chance to write my story yet. There's so much that I've wanted to do."

"I see. So... I can write on my pages and say that you're here with me."

"No! You don't write that! You write about your greatest theft of all!"

"Greatest theft? Hah! I've stolen only from guards. Not much honor in that."

"Hmm. Then... I need something... an object."

"What?"

"I need to hide something. I need something from this time that my friends can find and use to come here."

"And your friends will find this something 3,000 years from now?"

"Um... Maybe?"

"You have to do better than that."

"What can I do? I need something physical and I need to show my friends where it is. Otherwise... I'm never going home."

"Well, if you're going to stay with me until then, you can't go around the city claiming to be my future relative."

"So that means I can stay? You'll help me?"

Slytunkhamen nodded, looking towards the window. "You are a Cooper. I believe that. As Coopers, we can do anything."

"Anything? Because I think I know what we can do. You're not going to like it."

"And what would that be?"

The two discussed what the younger raccoon had in mind. Sly took on the role of Slytunkhamen III, the supposed son of the raccoon before him. Together, they would pull off a heist. It would be a heist that would surely get Bentley's attention. It would certainly be the greatest theft that Slytunkhamen and his new-found son would ever accomplish. It was also the most dangerous.

"How dangerous?" Sly asked, discarding his torn and sand filled clothes for something surprisingly more comfortable.

"You must've gone on your own adventures, right?"

"Of course."

"How many of them attempted to kill you?"

"All of them, I think."

"You sure about that?"

"When you say 'kill', you mean..."

"I mean that if you're caught by the guards and brought to the Pharaoh, you could be trialed and executed. You could be impaled, drowned, or beheaded... We both could suffer the same fate."

"B-Both?" Sly stammered.

"I suspect that was what they intended to do with you when you arrived. They would've trialed with you in my place or torture you to give up where I was hiding. Related or not, we are both similar in appearance. I doubt it would matter to them if we weren't related."

"And now since you rescued me, they are sure of a connection between us."

"Precisely."

"So are you chickening out?"

"I am not a chicken... We are both raccoons..."

"I know that... It's an expression from where I'm from. It must've translated wrong. I meant to ask if you were too scared to continue."

"Well, my efforts to change your mind have failed. You'll need my help to do it, so I will join you."

"Right."

"We are safe here for now. I relocated before they were able to find me."

"I appreciate that you brought me here, but we have to leave."

"What for?"

"Preparations."


	7. Now You're Gone

~Location: Paris Streets - France~

~Date/Time: Present Day, Night~

Now, Inspector Fox could've busted into Dimitri's club and started firing off her pistol, making arrests left and right until she got a hold of him. She had a feeling that her idea wouldn't be very professional.

Tonight, she had dressed in a casual evening dress. Her shock-pistol was tucked away out of sight as she looked to be a civilian fox on a night in the city. As she walked from her car down the street, she smiled as she hoped that Cooper would see her in this dress. Maybe when he's rescued, the two of them could go out on an official date. Her mind wandered at the possibilities of their future. It made her all the more confident in herself.

She had found the nightclub discretely, being able to do this to allow casual infiltration. Her team even made reservations for her to pass the bouncer without any fuss. Like she planned, she told her name to a boar by the door and was allowed inside.

The club was lively; singles and couples dancing while another set of singles and couples mingled at the bar. Her mind was still on her special someone as she wondered if Cooper had his first alcoholic drink yet. She laughed as she recalled that he hesitantly tried a little white wine at a party. Maybe on their date, she could take him to a bar... get him drunk with something strong... and then- Wow... where was her mind going just there?

She shook the thoughts away and sat at the counter, the bartender greeting her and offering to serve her a drink. Carmelita didn't want her mind wandering off again, so it was wise to politely decline the offer to stay sober.

She sat there, wondering if any of the guests knew where the owner was. She overheard a pair of what seemed to be female club dancers. They both wore close to nothing and seemed to be perfectly okay with that.

"See, Bunny? Isn't this place better than that dog house?" Carmelita didn't see her directly, but could see that it was a female feline with orange-red fur.

Her friend was a pale pink bunny that spoke with a higher pitch. "Kitty, Paris is really pretty, but I only care that you are here with me."

The bunny nuzzled her feline friend who responded with a light purr. "Mhmm. That makes it much better for sure."

"Kitty! It's time!"

"No... Cuddle me more."

"I mean it's time. Demi's gonna want a song to dance to soon."

"Err... Cold-blooded weasel... At least the pay and the room isn't too shabby. What does he want to dance to?

"Rave, like always. You wanna pick?"

"Yeah, sure. Let me go wiggle my butt for the DJ."

"Kitty! You're so lewd!"

"Don't worry, you'll see it later tonight."

The rabbit blushed and mumbled as her friend went to do as she said, more or less. Carmelita got up from her seat and approached her, greeting her politely. "Hello."

"H-Hi. My name is Bonnie, but no one calls me that..."

"Mine name's Carmelita. Can I ask you something?"

"Are you a new girl here?"

"No. I'm here on business."

The bunny giggled as if she heard a joke. "What kind of business are you trying to do here?"

It was now that the feline made her approach back to the two of them. The selected music started to play, bringing out a rave beat into the club "Alright. DJ wasn't interested in me, but I got a song- Who's your friend here?"

Carmelita introduced herself and learned Kitty's real name was Katie. "She doesn't look like a dancer, Bunny. My guess is she wouldn't drop that dress out in public at all."

"Kitty! Sorry, Carmelita. What did you need?"

Before the fox could respond, her ear twitched as she heard the lyrics of the song. For a rave song, the lyrics were quite sad. The main vocalist described the feeling of missing someone because they were gone now through the lyrics of the song. Words like 'the love was strong', 'now their gone', and 'thinking about the missing person everyday' struck tears into the fox.

"H-Hey... I didn't mean that to be harmful..." The feline moved the fox to a lounge couch where they both sat.

"Kitty... Now she's crying..." Bunny sat on Carmelita's other side with a worried look.

"I'm fine... It's just that I'm going through something harsh right now." The fox said, sitting back and taking deep breaths. Her new friends looked at each other and nodded, knowing that look on Carmelita's face and what it meant.

"Look, Carmelita," Bunny started to explain, "Kitty is very special to me. I was worried that I wasn't going to see her again. I cried... I was unhappy all the time... But..."

Kitty continued the thought. "As soon as she was in my arms, I couldn't let her go again." Bunny placed a small mouse toy on Kitty's head with a giggle. Kitty responded by purring happily and petting the small toy as a tiny bell jingled in her hands. "Thing is, we got separated and we almost lost hope. What you need is to go to him and make him yours. I bet he'd like that."

"I already plan to get back to him. That's why I came here."

Bunny gasped, her ears flicked back. "Did he come here? Oooh... That jerk. I can get Peter to rough him up a little for ya. Guys can be jerks..."

"No no, he's not here. Someone who could help me is here. He... owns the club."

"Demi? He's in his office. He only allows me or Bunny in there with him."

"Let's just say that I'm an old friend of his. I just need him to stay."

Bunny tilted her head questioningly. "You think he'd try not to stay?"

"Once he remembers me, yes."

"Let me handle that part. I've been meaning to teach that slime-ball a lesson."

###

Dimitri Lousteau had been dancing alone in his large office to a selection of rave music chosen by one of his dancers. The lizard hadn't changed much since he was last seen out in the open, keeping his style just how he had liked it. He grooved for several minutes before the music abruptly ended mid-stanza.

"Eh? Who pulled the plug on my funky blender, yo? I was about to make a groovy shake with my sweet moves." He stormed off to the door before it opened right in front of him.

His feline dancer spoke to him seductively. "I closed the club for the night so Bunny can get some rest. But... Why don't you and I make a shake of our own?"

"Mmm. I like that sound of that. What flavors you wanna try?"

"How about something new... Sit down for me."

The lizard willingly did so, allowing Kitty to tie him in his desk chair.

"Hey! Whoa Cat, Very uncool. How would I show you my moves now?"

"Let's get one thing straight. I'm not interested in you nor will I ever be. If you can't deal with that, then Bunny and I are leaving."

"Don't jump the gun without aiming, Katie-Cat. Take the rest of the night off and go snuggle with your bunny-bear."

"I plan to. Night, Demi!" Kitty walked off, leaving her boss tied down.

Carmelita slowly entered; her heals clicking across the tile floor before becoming silent on a rug. "To be honest, 'Demi,' That wasn't my idea."

"Err. Copper-Lady... Why did I do now, Foxy?"

"Nothing that your dancer couldn't handle herself. I need to ask you some things. About the night Sly Cooper went missing?"

"Ohh... I see. Hold your tongue, Mama... while I... There!" Dimitri had cut his ropes with a nail file, adjusting his seat back to his be aligned with his desk. "Now... Spill your beans, Latte. Let's see what I can brew for you."

Dimitri had been in contact with the Cooper Gang and the guardian of the Thievius Raccoonus while the gang had time-traveled. Carmelita became hopeful once she learned about the communication device but was disappointed after learning that Dimitri had sold the jewel from the device and rendered it inoperable. Even if it worked, Sly doesn't have the other one. Bentley and the rest of the Cooper Gang have it now. Dimitri could offer no other help. He didn't know what time Sly had been sent to nor did he have anything to lead her closer to finding it out. Dimitri could only offer an apology and a free drink.

She declined the drink again and instead went home for the night, hoping that Bentley had made more progress than she had. Her thoughts drifted to what Kitty had suggested: "Make him yours." She thought about what that meant before she drifted off to sleep peacefully.

###


	8. Dog's Day Out

~Location: Hotel Room - Paris, France~

~Date/Time: Present Day, Mid Afternoon~

The past month hadn't been so great for a vacationing couple. Grimm Hund visited multiple doctors and therapists with the same result. Grimm's lack of a medical history was proving it difficult to seek treatment. Not even the basic treatments that they could do were providing any help. Diana was becoming more and more distraught as not even her psychic abilities could elaborate on Grimm's condition. They weren't getting any answers from anyone.

That's not true... They were given one answer... Perhaps the other doctors didn't want to tell some bad news. He simply told them that Grimm did not have much time left and he suggested that the two of them should make the most of their time together. This is the reason why the couple had gone on a vacation together. Perhaps they could have a week or two together before things made a turn for the worse.

"It's not fair..." The retriever huffed out and tossed her luggage onto the bed. She took notice of the single bed in their hotel room and blushed lightly at something before the wolf disposed of his bags nearby. His reaction to the single bed was one of curiosity that was quickly dismissed with sleeping by her side being the norm for them. "Diana... Things happen. I've been around for so long and now it's my time to go."

"But... I don't want you to go..." Diana whined softly and nudged against Grimm. The wolf responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and swaying with her snugly against him. "Isn't there anything we can do?"

"We've been through all of that... We got an answer."

"Well... I hate it."

"Yeah... I do too."

Diana cooed softly and entwined her fingers with Grimm's, bringing his hand up to kiss the back of his palm affectionately. "You did choose a pretty place to go to."

Grimm hummed and tightened his grip around her slightly, making the golden retriever giggle in delight. "Don't you dare say something corny, you dog..." She teased, laughing now.

"Aww... Why not? I had a line picked out for this moment." He fake-pouted.

"It'll make me blush... Don't..." She whined playfully.

"You look cute when you blush."

"S-Stop it...!" She squealed; a rosy red tint on her cheeks as she pushed the wolf away softly.

Grimm only laughed and wrapped his hands back around her in a soft embrace, not surprised to have no response of disproval from her.

Diana squealed and giggled but her expression of childlike glee immediately turned to serious concern when Grimm's body tensed against hers. "Grimm? You okay?"

"It's... It's just a headache... I'll be fine." He lied, breathing long breaths to steady himself.

"Grimm... I'm not going to stand here and let you fall apart like this. Come on." The retriever swiftly turned, taking Grimm's hand and pulling him out of their room.

"Wh-Where are we going?"

"I'm gonna show you something, okay? I'm gonna show you what couples do now-a-days."

"C-Couple?" Diana's response to that was a quick kiss on his cheek and nothing else until they were outside.

With Grimm's hourglass running short, Diana's plan was to introduce him to the ways of intimate interaction in the present day. Before they could get to that step, the first thing that the two canines found out was that Paris had some interesting cuisine. So, naturally, they spent a few hours travelling and sampling dozens of new delicacies. Neither of them had a liking of escargot, though, so they didn't spend much time experiencing that.

Throughout the day and into the early nightfall, Grimm noticed a change in Diana's behavior and his own. The relationship that they had was along the lines of a caretaker and the dependent. It was clear to the canine that something was blossoming between them. The way she looks at him with that cute smile of hers... The way she blushes and turns away when he notices her gaze... The way she curls up into his arms and nuzzles against him... There were only a few moments when they had to stop when Grimm mentioned a migraine. Afterwards, she'd give him a quick kiss and pull him along to the next location.

There were many sights to see under the night sky. They found the classic monuments and modern relics of the fine city. Diana had a few more surprises for Grimm tonight and she hoped that he could last through the night.

They stopped at a fine restaurant for dinner and dessert. Here, they talked about some past and hopes for the future. Neither of them ordered escargot.

"How long do you think you have, Grimm?" Diana asked softly, recalling that Grimm declined the estimate that the doctor would've provided.

"It's been getting worse for sure. Not much longer now."

"Do you think... you can hold on to yourself for one more night?"

"One night? I suppose... W-Why?"

Diana blushed with color on her cheeks that were darker then her normal hue and spoke softly. "W-Well... What if I said that I didn't want this night to end?"

"Well..." Grimm smiled softly at her, playing the 'what if' game with her now. "What if I told you that I've loved every second of it?"

Diana giggled softly and then faked a serious look. "Then I'd ask if you lied to me about hating the snails."

Grimm laughed at that and placed a hand on top of the retriever's hand. "I'd say that I loved everything about today besides the nasty snail dish."

"Hehe. Good. I'd ask for a reaction from you if I said that I had two more surprises for you tonight."

Grimm blinked, tilting his head. "I'd ask what they were, of course."

Diana shook her head softly and got up from her chair, leaning down to kiss Grimm deeply before she pulled him up out of his chair. "I'd simply say that I planned to show you one of the surprises right now... if you'd join me." Grimm nodded as his nonverbal reply and followed, dropping a quick amount for the dinner bill and a tip onto a table.

She led him to a local club in Paris where singles and couples danced for the late night and into early morning. Grimm questioned if they were staying here for the night and Diana replied that the second surprise was waiting for him at the hotel room.

She pulled him towards where others were dancing, the wolf shyly hesitating. Diana had been in this sort of setting before and understood what was making him uncomfortable. She decided to go for broke and show him why she felt comfortable.

She stepped close to him and cooed in the wolf's ear, requesting for him to keep his eyes only on her. He nodded in understanding and stepped back a bit, watching as the golden retriever beginning to sensually dance for her male. Grimm perked his ears in interest and earned a giggle from the one performing the erotic display.

She motioned for him to come closer and he smiled, expecting that he would take her hand and struggle to dance the way that they do now-a-days. It would've made her giggle and she would teach him, giving them chances to press their bodies close together in an intimate display. He had no idea how close she wanted to be. If only he lasted until later that night, he would've known what the second surprise was.

Unfortunately, someone was smoking in the dance club. The scent triggered a form of a PTSD flashback to a memory that Grimm had never experienced. He never made it to taking Diana's hand before a flash of colors momentarily stunned him. Red, White, and Black... The colors slowly formed into shapes that Grimm recognized. He saw a figure lying on a carpeted floor, the colors shimmering to their proper hues. It was at this moment that the wolf panicked, backing up and scaring Diana into pulling away her hand. The scent of smoke was recognized as the scent of a recently lit smoker's pipe. The sound of the striped male taking a final breath with the morbid gurgling that accompanied the wound on his neck sent Grimm over the edge.

"Grimm? You okay?"

"I... No... You need... to stay... away from me."

"Grimm, please... Try to hang on. Please..."

"I... have to get away. I can't... I... I'm sorry."

Grimm turned and fled, leaving Diana to collapse to the floor sobbing and burying her face in her hands. The wolf didn't stop until he was several blocks away, leaning back against a wall of a building.

"It's not true... I didn't do it, did I? C-Connor... I remember him. Why is this happening?!"

"Excuse me..." The wolf looked up and saw a cloaked figure with eyes hidden under sunglasses. Any hair or noticeable features were hidden in a large black coat and black hat. "Are you okay?" The voice was a bit shy and feminine.

"It is not save here."

"I see no danger."

"You're talking to it."

"Dangerous, you? When you've spent the last several hours on a date?"

"Excuse me?"

"Look... Mr. Hund, I can help you. You want to get back to her, yes? Start your life the way you want to?"

"Of course..."

"Then come with me. I can make it all go away." The figure said, holding a hand out as a sign of trust.

Grimm looked up at the cloaked figure and grasped her hand. The figure's hands were gloved. A face hidden in darkness. How was he to know that the figure took the opportunity to inject a needle into Grimm's arm.

"Nothing personal, Mr. Hund... I fear for my safety is all." The voice said softly as Grimm collapsed still onto the ground. She acted fast, opening her coat to reveal an ebony black dress. The feminine figure was a tiny Dutch Mouse, having worn some device to hold the broad shoulders of the coat. The coat now appearing a few sizes too large draped over Penelope's shoulders. She hailed a cab like this, explaining that her date for the evening collapsed onto the ground. The driver was quite a gentleman, helping her set the wolf in the seat of the cab and drag him to an apartment complex. When Grimm started to stir and awaken, she had him carry his own weight and stumble along with her.

"Maybe I could wear this dress for an actual date." Penelope huffed and dropped Grimm onto a couch, going off to change into clothing more of her style. "I guess I got lucky with him running out like that."

###


	9. Father and Son Day

~Location: Rural City - Egypt~  
>~DateTime: 1300 B.C., Operation Golden Ticket: Day 1; Evening~

"So... How do you want to start?" The older raccoon asked, adjusting his pseudo-son's robes so that they fitted him more naturally.

"I have... no clue at all. Do you have any ideas?" The younger raccoon was at a disadvantage; one of his best friends and brother was the plan-maker of the team. According to his ancestor; stealing something was a very serious crime. The fact that both of them were on a proverbial 'Most Wanted' list meant that being captured preceded a death sentence. Sly knew they had to steal something... certainly something from Pharaoh would do the trick, but what?

"Well, come on future boy... You know how it's done. You've read it."

"Yeah, but I recall your entry being vague or misleading."

Slytunkhamen stopped, ears perking in the hint of an idea. "What about your entry?"

"I told you, I haven't written it yet."

"My boy... Don't you understand? You are my son, Slytunkhamen the Third. You write your entry after mine."

Sly's own ears perked. eyes lighting up at such a simple but effective idea. "Hey... You're right... I'm your son, so... My entry is in his place!"

"Your copy of our journal, where is it now?"

"My friends are keeping it safe."

"Wait right here." Slytunkhamen walked off, returning with the first few pages of the Thievius Raccoonus. There was something more written now, Sly assumed it to be Slytunkhamen's entry. "Now... You write your message."

"Wait, now? Um... Two problems."

"Go on..."

"I'll need you to be my writer-er... scribe. I don't remember reading this post in my language."

"That's fair. What else?"

"Give me a little time... I want to figure out what I should say."

"Might I... make a suggestion that you might not like? Write a farewell to your friends. If your plan- whatever it's going to be- fails, you won't have another chance to say goodbye."

"Ah... I... understand."

"I'll leave you some time. Come get me when you need it written."

Sly took half of the evening composing a final goodbye to his friends and loved ones. Slytunkhamen translated it into calligraphy without question, knowing his son was practically writing his own eulogy. When they had finished, Sly sighed heavily and turned to his ancestor.

"Your entry..."

"...Is for you, my son, to read when you return home."

"Son?" Sly asked, tearing up now.

"I don't know what else to-" The elder raccoon couldn't finish before the younger embraced him in a warm hug. When they separated, Sly backed up and noticed something about his ancestor that he hadn't before.

"Where's your um... hat-thing?" Sly questioned, gesturing with his hands in the shape and size of a large cone on his own head."

"A... crown? I don't own one, but Pharaoh does. Wait... Are you saying that... No..."

"You know exactly what I'm saying. That's what we steal."

"But to steal Pharaoh's crown?! You want to steal the symbol of his divine rule and power?! Sounds fun."

"Wait, what?"

"I get to keep it, after all."

"I still need something to lead my friends here..."

"True... What if I took care of that in exchange for keeping the crown?"

"Say again?"

"Craft yourself a sack to carry your winnings and I can provide anything that you would need."

"Alright... Deal."

"Very good! Now... How do you intend to do it?"

"I still don't know yet..."

A voice called out at that moment that made both of them freeze in place. Sly had never heard the voice before, but it sent a chill up his spine. Before he knew it, he was hurried by Slytunkhamen into a small hidden room. "Ausar... He's early... You need to wait here. He knows that I don't really have a son. Just stay quiet..."

Sly nodded, his ancestor returning the hug before wandering off. Sly heard that voice again as well as his ancestor's voice. They were discussing some sort of business.

"...What do you have to show me, trap-maker?"

"I... have nothing new made yet...Ausar. Why are you requesting when no announcement has been made?"

The other went silent for a moment. "Pharaoh is expected to pass. He is no god. Preparations should be made in advance. Show me what you have now."

"Y-Yes. Understood."

Sly saw his ancestor first, followed by his business partner. Peering from a slightly-ajar door, he saw what Ausar was. Ausar was a large owl with brown feathers all around his body. The avian was clothed in an amount of jewels that could not be described as miniscule. Sly glimpsed at the owl's solemn expression before his heart and stomach knotted in his chest. Oh... he'd seen that beaked face before... He knew that now. He knew exactly where he first saw the owl and was reintroduced to the traumatizing scene.

It was years ago, but he still remembered everything. The Fiendish Five had just overpowered his father and discovered the Cooper family secret. He remembered running out to stop them as a little boy, tears in his eyes. One of the members of the quintet had a mechanical and soulless stare in his eyes and the mere sight of it struck a deep instinct of fear into the young raccoon's heart. Before the two could lock eyes directly, Sly's own father blocked the path, allowing the helpless raccoon cub to seek shelter in a cupboard. It was a horrific sight to watch one's own father take a heavy beating against five-to-one odds. The young raccoon couldn't look away as one of the gang members acted swiftly and dealt the final and fatal blow. Now with his father's motionless corpse between them, nothing prevented Sly and the killer from looking at each other in the eyes. That stare haunted his childhood and never left his mind even after the victors had retreated with their winnings.

That's the face he saw... Right outside a small little door. Sly felt exposed again, cowering like he did all those years ago. He stayed locked in place like this, hearing nothing else of the conversation evolving before him.

Sly came back to reality- his ancestor now in the little room with him knelt beside Sly and shaking him with moderate force.

"That look on your face... My father had that look... Can you tell me what you saw?"

"That owl... He... killed my father..."

"Your father? He couldn't have."

"You just said your father had the same look? Did he mention a shadow hovering above his head? Watching and silently following him in the night sky?"

"Y-Yes... He did mention that. He even mentions it in his article of our book."

"That shadow haunts the rest of us Coopers... He haunted me... but I..."

"You what?"

"I destroyed him. He doesn't exist now... but... he's..."

"Ausar... He's Ausar now. My father couldn't make the connection... Ausar is Pharaoh's vizier, overseeing daily tasks and presenting them to Pharaoh."

"What was he here for?"

"Traps for Pharaoh's tomb. Ausar is convinced that he will die soon."

"Whatever we decide upon... We need to do something about him. We can make it so he never exists to the Cooper lineage."

"Ausar was appointed by Pharaoh and guards over his life. If we're gonna get close to Pharaoh, then we need to handle his vizier first."

"And he just gave me an idea..."

"Oh? What would that be?"

"Assassinating the Pharaoh himself and blaming Ausar."

Sly explained what he had in mind before his ancestor went ballistic. Once the real plan was determined and agreed upon, Slytunkhamen had little trouble with it.

"Great! Sleep on it?"

"Sounds pleasant."


	10. Unbound

~Location: Unknown Apartment Room - Paris, France~  
>~DateTime: Present Day, Morning~

"Damn... I think I used too much. You're kind of a lightweight for a wolf, you know." The mouse's voice was slightly distorted, along with the structure of the room that Grimm found himself in. He awoke on a couch, sitting up and rubbing his temples with a light groan.

"Where... am I?"

"Mr. Hund? That part doesn't matter."

"You sound familiar..."

"Well, it might be hard to believe, but we've met before."

The wolf found his sight realigning to see the mouse clearly. He smiled a bit when he recalled how friendly she was to him but frowned when he remembered the events of last night. "Why'd you bring me here like this?"

"Well, I wasn't gonna get anywhere with how you were last night. Oh and... I wouldn't stand yet if I were you. You have plenty of juice left in you to keep your body sedated. Have any other questions?"

"What's happening to me?"

Penelope had a smile on her face as she sat back in a chair. "Ah... Good question. One thing we learned about you, Mr. Hund, is how you lived all those years."

"Wasn't I possessed?"

"Well... I would say that... Considering that the machine that did the deed had a soul that wouldn't rest."

"A machine... That's why his voice was so cold to me... What else do you know?"

"You remember Sly Cooper and the rest of the gang, yes?" Penelope received a nod in reply and continued. "Your 'Machine Devil' practically hunted Sly and his family. He got really close to erasing his lineage at one point."

"Who was Connor Cooper to Sly?"

"Connor?" Penelope sat up, shifting to the edge of her seat with interest. "He was Sly's father. Do you... happen to know that name?"

"Never met him... But... I..."

"Go on."

"No."

"Do it."

"I don't want to. It's a horrible thing."

"It can't be that bad."

"I killed him."

"Wh-What?"

"I... saw his throat slashed and... he breathed his last breath on the floor. I saw it all."

Penelope shifted in her seat, becoming interested in this new information "That's impossible. You weren't there. You fought in the war, remember? Prisoner in Germany and France at the time... Unless..."

"Unless?" Grimm glanced at the mouse and saw that her brown eyes lit up in interest. Penelope saw that Grimm's vibrant blue eyes were fading to a dull color.

"Unless you... have his memories! Yes! I was right! Oh, this can work out for us both, Mr. Hund!"

"His memories? That would explain why something that I keep seeing haven't happened to me at all. Are you saying that you can help me?"

"I know what's happening to you. 100% sure now."

"Oh... That's great... Maybe you can explain why I was kidnapped in the first place..."

"That... That part was kind of improvised. I followed you and Diana around as casually as I could be all afternoon."

"You followed us?" Grimm sat up abruptly and was starting to get defensive. His pose faltered as he started to sway in his seat. "Why?"

"Well... now here's the part we had unsolved... What do you know about the concept of time travel?"

"Science fiction. I've read a novel on the subject a few times."

"Well... It's not fiction anymore..."

"How would you know that?"

"Well... I helped build a time machine, or two, technically."

"You're bluffing. Show me them."

"I can't. One was destroyed and lost and the other is... property of the Cooper Gang."

Grimm huffed as a remark but ended up in a cough. "What does this... 'nonfictional' concept have to do with you drugging me? It still makes no sense."

"Right... Well, when we first found you, there was something that we discovered that was very odd. You were involved in... a temporal anomaly. Something just felt very odd about you as if you were a paradox on your own."

"I didn't feel odd then... Is that what's happening to me now?"

"No because... We made machines that could detect such things and find them and now... You are normal. I wanted to find out why you're not giving any temporal distortion, so I followed you and Diana."

"I feel anything but normal now." Grimm groaned in discomfort coughed violently into a closed fist, withdrawing to see specks of red on his hand. "That's not a good sign..."

Penelope's eye's widened at the sight of the color, shifting back in her seat. "You're sick! Like, really ill!"

"I thought you knew why..." The wolf groaned, his voice weak in tone.

"I do know! But, I think you're dying, Mr. Hund!"

"I know that... Just... tell me why you brought me here then..." Grimm coughed again, more red specks appearing.

"I won't have time to explain it all if we just sit here. You'll just have to trust me. I can help you."

"Very well. What do you need me to do?"

###

Penelope had Grimm lay back on the couch as comfortably as he could while she fetched a cool wash cloth to drape over his forehead. The mouse had to work fast as she set up some computer equipment by him and attached sensors to Grimm to monitor brain activity and heart rate.

"If I'm right, I can find the key to solving both of our problems. I want you to close your eyes and try to remember."

"What am I to recall?"

"I need you to remember something that you've never done or experienced." Penelope said, sitting at the array of monitors with the keyboard of an emerald-green laptop at her fingertips. The mouse was armed for her hacking war with an unknown opponent.

"I see..." Grimm sighed and gently closed his eyes, falling into a dream state. Penelope closely monitored his brain waves for signs of a deep sleep or trance before she began.

"Alright... Where are you right now?"

"I... I'm following someone... It's someone I feel like I serve... He has higher power than me."

Penelope was baffled at first when she couldn't locate the significant brain activity involved with memory. It was then she was certain that the memory wasn't Grimm's at all and needed to search digitally. "Yes, go on..."

"We're dining together with other important figures. The one I followed has more power than all of us... I know this style. I think I know. I recognize clothing..."

Penelope found little memory recalling from Grimm but her equipment discovered a foreign signal. She attempted the access the signal from her laptop.

Grimm started to growl in pain and gripped at his necklace, the pendant still a crescent moon. "Something's wrong... It's becoming hard to breathe."

"Just hold on... Keep going... I've made some progress, but I need time." Thus began Penelope's attack: lines of scripted code running rapidly on her screen. For a moment, she saw Grimm's eyes light back up to a vibrant blue. Closer inspection revealed that the iris was rotating. It stopped and his eyes faded back to a darker grey, Penelope nodding for Grimm to continue.

"I see something. I've seen it before! Cooper... I see his cane!"

"Cane? Sly's cane? How..." Grimm's mental state was ablaze with his natural memory but she questioned his comment out of curiosity.

"No mistake about it... I've seen it before... Cooper beat me with it. It's golden at the crest and shaped like a shepherd's crook. He gripped it at the wooden handle just under the crest."

"Tell me about the person holding the cane. Is it Sly?" Penelope was more furious in her typing, lines of code representing a foe that fought back.

"He's... It's Sly! I saw his eyes. He has brown eyes like your own hidden in a black mask and he has the ringed tail that I've seen before!" Grimm's pulse was elevated and there was definitely a vibrant amount of brain activity now, a mix of the electronic signal and Grimm's own memory.

"Keep going... I think I have it... It's crude and outdated, but a stable and secure system. I might be able to disable it." Penelope's eyes widened as she furiously typed on Bentley's old laptop.

"My chest... it hurts... I can't go on... Do it now!" The wolf cried out, clutching his torso as if he thought that would ease the pain.

"Just a little bit longer, Grimm. Focus on where you are for me. Stall just a little bit longer."

"I'm in... a sandbox now... It's a big and empty sandbox. Wait... There's a building in the distance." There was a rapid decline in brain activity. This was not Grimm's original memory either.

Penelope gasped and turned to a large series of knocks, turning back and not stopping her frantic attempt at digital surgery.

"Penelope! I know you're in there. I know you have Hund. You can't drag a wolf places without people noticing!" The voice was female, but certainly authoritative.

"Describe the building. Can you recognize it?" Penelope was panicking now, knowing exactly who was at the front door.

"Are you close to stopping it? I can't hold on..." Grimm cried out again, his voice weak and pleading for whatever was happening to end.

"I can stop it. I will. Tell me where you are!"

"Penelope! Unlock the door! Dios... I'll break this damn door!"

"I see a pyramid... Yeah... Large pointed building... Lots of sand... I'm in Egypt!"

"Egypt? That's where he is! Hold on! I'm gonna disable it. I have it in a trap!"

"Do it already!" Grimm coughed some more of the red spots, the next sound was wood splintering as the first few thumps had went unnoticed.

"Penelope! You're under arrest for kidnapping and escaping your prison sentence!"

"Wait! Give me a second! I need to fix this!" Penelope managed a few key strokes before being pulled out of her chair and tackled against the wall by none other than Inspector Carmelita Fox.

Penelope glanced back as lines of code passed on her screen in rapid sequence before the prompt went black. As if he can feel the death of the digital programming as his own death; Grimm was wailing in agony, his irises a pale grey and the wolf thrashing about to stop the horrid pain.

The prompt went blank and Grimm went nearly motionless simultaneously, staring up at the ceiling.

"I see a lot of white now... I don't feel any pain anymore..." He said softly, his hands relaxed to rest on chest while his heartbeat was rapidly slowing.

Carmelita turned to Grimm after succeeding in handcuffing Penelope. "It's over Mr. Hund. We found you."

"Yeah... It's over..." Grimm chuckled calmly at a small joke while the sensors that he was connected to were frantic in alarm. The heart rate monitor was gradually getting more and more delayed in playing the monotonous sound that it needed to play. The monitor displaying brain activity was slowly getting dimmer.

"Mr. Hund?" Carmelita called again, her strong-willed tone cracked a bit as if she knew what was happening before her.

"I... I see Mira now..."

"Mira... Your wife, Mira?"

"Mhmm... She looks surprised to see me... No... She's shocked... I thought she'd be happy."

Three people watched in utter silence as one of the monitors made its necessary sounds almost once every second. The third person had entered a bit too late and ran over to tackle a body that wasn't moving much anymore.

"G-Grimm? Don't go. You promised you wouldn't go."

"Diana? I promised to last the night... and I did."

"But... It wasn't with me! I wanted you to spend it with me!"

"Asleep? I'd have passed peacefully right next to you."

"No, Grimm! I love you, you big fluffy mutt! I've loved how kind you were to me when I got hurt and I fell for you without realizing it. I... wanted to give myself to you tonight... That's what the second surprise for you was, Grimm. I was hoping that we would've been together... as a true couple... sincerely honest about it this time. I would've settled with being one with you for that night if I lost you the next morning...Just as long as I told you how much I wanted you."

"D-Diana... You made my last night a night to remember... My story finally has a written ending... I'm glad my last chapter... was with you. I love you." Those were the wolf's last words before she silenced him with a kiss. The golden retriever clinging to the wolf was mortified to hear them. Everything was still in silence for a long time after that, the wolf making no other sounds or movement after the retriever broke away.

To be honest, the room was mostly silent. One of the vital sign monitors made a low monotonous hum while the other did nothing vibrant like it had been doing earlier. The screen on the laptop blinked its cursor and awaited user input. The sound that had dominance in the room was that of a lover crying for her departed mate.

All three screens went black. Diana never stopped crying.


	11. Breadcrumbs

~Location: Cooper Hideout - Paris, France~  
>~DateTime: Present Day, Early Morning~

Bentley was stumped.

The turtle was utterly flabbergasted as he couldn't find a thing. Sly did have some mementos left in the safe house, but they wouldn't haven given any sort of clue as to 'when' he was lost. Murray was willing to help search and would've lifted up Sly's bed to make it easier, but Bentley made a quick excuse to avoid the idea entirely.

Those little keepsakes wouldn't have helped at all and Bentley knew it. He rationalized it with the idea that an artifact from Sly's location in time would've never made it into the collection of old photos and items the Sly hid under his bed in the present day. Bentley also knew that looking at them would bring forth memories of a happier time.

_"You could've let him fall... Sly... You'd be here right now... After all he did to us, you saved him."_

Murray wasn't going to believe the artifact excuse regardless if he understood it or not. He knew what was really going on and he understood his turtle brother exactly.

"Sly did it because he's a good guy, Bentley. You know that."

"If it was me, I'd-"

"Probably put a bomb on his striped behind. If it was me, I'd have broken most of his bones first." Murray kneeled and hugged his friend, the chair between them not much of a bother anymore.

"Most of them? Why not all of them?" Bentley laughed, knowing his friend was cheering him up. Murray had succeeded.

"And that's when I'd be nice enough to leave a few unbroken." Murray said with a chuckle, yawning.

"We should turn in eventually... It's... What time is it? Almost four? Ugh..."

The door of the single-story home turned safe-house received a few knocks and a female voice called out. The turtle approached the door slowly, not yet hitting a panel that would open the door.

"Password?"

"Are you kidding? It's me, Inspector Fox."

"What's the password, Inspector Fox?"

"Seriously? Dios... Carmelita Montoya Cooper."

Bentley opened the door for her with a nervous smile. "I- uh... never made that the password."

"Well... It worked, didn't it?" Carmelita had a light blush on her cheeks, secretly liking how that name rolled off her tongue with her Latina accent.

"Nice to see you again, Inspector." Murray followed and gave her a warm hug, the smaller fox returning the hug.

"Likewise. Any luck on Sly's things?"

"We never got the chance to look, Bentley said-" Murray stopped when his friend exhaled a long sigh. "Bentley said it wouldn't have worked."

Carmelita knew better, but what Bentley explained wasn't far from the truth. "Did you find Dimirti? What'd he have to say?"

"Nothing... Well, nothing useful to us, anyway. He doesn't know anything after the blimp disappeared. He sold a piece of the communicator you made so it doesn't work anymore."

"And I have the other one."

"Exactly."

"There's got to be something that we're missing."

"What could it be, guys?" Murray said, offering Inspector Fox some pizza from the box but nodded and set it down when she declined.

"Well... I honestly don't know." Bentley said with a sigh, sitting back in his chair.

"Wait... What about Penelope? You were tracking her down, right?"

"She's good at hiding from me. She did send me a few postcards and I did locate where they were taken." He typed at a few prompts, opening and activating the projector in the living room. Three dots were lit onscreen, their position shown on a map of France. Among the dots was Penelope's prison, tagged and photographed like two other random places. They were connected in the shape of a triangle, Bentley sighed in utter defeat.

"Anything you can tell me about those places?"

"They were blocked off by local police, but there's nothing special about them. She wouldn't have led us like that."

"Hmm..."

"Yeah... Sorry for the lack of anything helpful." The turtle huffed and cleaned his glasses, idly tapping on his holographic prompt to turn off the projector.

"Me too... I have to get back to headquarters, but I'll stop by or something if anything comes up."

"Please do." Bentley stated, putting his glasses back on. "If we find anything, we'll contact you. Oh, One more thing, Inspector..." Bentley said as Carmelita turned to leave, nodding at Murray who walked off to go get something for her.

When she left, Murray brought up the topic of taking a nap. Bentley slowly shook his head, distraught over not making progress to sleep. The turtle ended up passing out within an hour and Murray played care-taker for the day, putting the turtle to bed.

###

Carmelita did return to her desk in her office, the single cup of coffee on the drink carrier seemed empty and alone. She thought it best to help it feel needed in a way, plucking the cup from the cardboard tray and sipping it.

She smiled softly as she noticed something on her coffee cup this morning. The sleeve on her cup had Sly's logo on it. She knew it was there. She just had a little secret in her hands. Bentley had provided the cup sleeve and said that there was a code hidden on the inside that she could decode with her phone and receive a link to some uploaded info. Bentley gave her a way to access digital scans of the postcards and map that he showed her and a way to keep the information a secret.

Her ears perked as agents and officers dashed back and forth, buzzing with activity.

She poked her head out of her office and looked around, addressing one of the gorillas in charge of the swat team. "What's going on?"

"Missing person's call just came in. Caller's already inside talking to Barkley."

"Already? When did the call come in?" Carmelita tilted her head, sipping her coffee softly.

"Late last night. Poor girl's been here most of the morning."

"Maybe I can try to talk to her? Who's missing?"

"Her date for the evening disappeared after a little dispute. Everyone's all ruffled because she brought a note that she got from the kidnapper. That's all I know about."

"Thanks George..."

"Well there she is! Inspector Fox, where were you?!" A loud booming voice made her squeak. Inspector Barkley was her superior for years and still is, his voice proving his authority after all this time. "Been looking all day for you, Fox,"

"Inspector! I went home after my steak-out and I just came back with coffee." She half-lied... Well, her boss did know about her alliance with the Cooper Gang this time and knew what she wanted from the cooperation. He never confronted her about it and just left it alone as her personal business. Carmelita was smart enough to know that he found out, but there was still no reason to reveal some personal business.

"I trust George filled you in? Call came in and the girl was in shock. The caller had her get a night's sleep and come back to tell the whole story the next morning. She says she brought a note with her that she found in her hotel room.

"What do you need me to do?"

"See what all you can get her to open up to you. She was pretty shaken up to talk to anyone. I mean, she's got a stuffed animal in her arms right now actually."

"Yikes. I'll see what I can do."

Inspector Barkley nodded and wished her luck before she went inside where the victim was waiting, When Carmelita saw who it was; she was quite confused. The victim had an opposite reaction, the golden retriever perking her ears and smiling.

"Four fifty-five." Diana said casually, not halting the smile. Carmelita glanced at the clock; the time was shortly after a quarter to nine in the morning. Tucked away in the retriever's arms, Carmelita saw a small plush wolf poking its head out.

"P-Pardon?" The fox sat down in front of her, setting her coffee down and clearing her throat.

"Four dollars and fifty-five cents was how much your coffee was, right?"

"How did you know that?"

"You dropped your receipt when you came in this morning. I was about to stop you so that we can talk, but you looked occupied."

"I've had a lot on my mind this morning... Now, tell me what happened." Carmelita said, pulling out a pad and pen. Diana took a few breaths and narrated her date with Grimm. There had been a dispute but Diana swore that Grimm didn't hurt her. The way that she said it was that Grimm had warned her to stay away from him before he ran out of the club. That had been the last time she saw him. Diana had called it in when Grimm never returned to their hotel room. The next morning, Diana found a breakfast tray along with a ransom note.

This struck them both as odd as Diana and Grimm never booked a hotel that delivered breakfast. It was served as a buffet downstairs.

"Any idea what that's all about?" Diana asked softly, relaxing now that someone familiar is with her but still clutching her wolf plushie tightly.

"Well, it was with the note, right? What if... it was an apology?"

"An apology?! For taking my Grimm away? I hardly slept last night... But the breakfast was nice and it had some coffee..."

"Hey... We'll find him, alright?"

"I hope so... He's not well..."

"You mentioned a note? Can I see it?"

Diana nodded slowly and slid over the folded page, Carmelita reading it over. The note was made by gluing letters in words as a way to eliminate handwriting as a tracking method. The note mentioned a ransom in a multiple of millions of dollars that is to be left on the corner of a named street before noon that day. There was a small corner torn off and one letter removed to be analyzed for a source.

"I can't get that kind of money... What am I gonna do?" Diana looked up and noticed Carmelita still intently studying the note. She tilted her head in curiosity as the fox had opened up her cup sleeve and was taking a picture of it with her phone. Inspector Fox was poking at her touch screen for a moment before Diana asked what she was doing.

"Hmm? Oh... I just noticed the signature on the note."

"The stamp? Does it look familiar?"

"Very. I might have a lead already on this case." Carmelita smirked and took a picture of the note next, stamp included, and sent it to Bentley for him to see.

"That's great, Inspector! Do you know where he is?"

"Not yet. I know someone who can help." Inspector Fox pushed in her chair, folding up the note and tucking it into the inner pocket of her jacket. The fox smiled as she knew that something was familiar about it. The 'signature' at the bottom of the note was a pink stamp in the shape of a mouse with ears and gasmask.

"Well, I'm coming too."

"I- Alright." As they turned to leave, Carmelita bumped into her boss, who seemed excited to see that look in her eye.

"You look like you have a case, Inspector. Where are you and Ms. Strauss going?"

"I'm going to meet a colleague that has some insight on the signature." Carmelita handed the folded note to her boss, who opened it to look at the stamp. "Search around for some photographs taken of that symbol. There should be three of them with one of them being a cell that a prisoner escaped from."

"And the escaped convict must be responsible for that symbol and these others. You solved the case, Inspector! And within an hour of it being opened!"

"Not yet. I don't have Grimm's location, but we have a while until noon even gets close. I'm taking Diana to the club where she last saw Grimm. We might find some pedestrians or patrons at the place who saw what happened to-"

It was now that Carmelita's phone chirped, her eyes widening as she looked at the screen.

"Change of plans! Diana's coming with me. Inspector," Carmelita was now addressing Barkley directly again, "Get that info for me. I'll be going to make the arrest now. Yes, the case is now solved."

Carmelita then turned to Diana and smiled softly. "Correction... Yes, I do have his location and you're coming with me."

Diana nodded eagerly and followed, Carmelita pulling up the address that Bentley sent over. He pieced her location together easily. The ransom and location ended up being an address hidden in plain sight. Bentley recognized the symbol on the note, decoded the hint, and sent over the address with a message stating that he and Murray would meet her there.

There was a slight hiccup when Carmelita and Diana arrived at the building. Penelope had Grimm somewhere in an apartment complex and neither of them knew what room they were in.

Carmelita sent a FYI to Bentley who took a second look at the note but found nothing. Carmelita was about to call for back up when she saw Diana at the front counter. The clerk was about to refuse to give information about guests, but quickly changed his tune as soon as Carmelita showed off her badge.

She sent some new info to Bentley and went with Diana to find Grimm. To the retriever's dismay, they were too late in arriving even as a digital clock displayed a time of a few minutes after 10:30.

###


	12. Set in Stone

~Location: Penelope's Apartment - Paris, France~  
>~DateTime: Present Day, Morning~

"Headquarters, respond. I need prisoner transport and a medical unit here immediately." Carmelita called back via her radio; the dispatch responding and giving no response other than static.

"He's... okay, right?" Penelope said with a soft squeak as she had her hands cuffed behind her back, forced to sit where she had been sitting.

"No pulse. Pupils are dialating. Irises are... grey... They weren't grey before, right?" Carmelita went through a routine examination, checking vital signs. It wasn't looking very good.

"N-No... They were ocean blue..."

"Inspector Fox? Did you find them? I... I guess you did find them." Bentley took a moment to look around as he wheeled himself into the apartment. His eyes met Penelope's and hers met his.

Time felt like it stopped as they were able to secretly converse through body language. Bentley let his gaze linger on her figure for too long and she blushed, blowing a rebellious strand of hair away. The mouse bit her lip as she tried to fix some untidy things about her appearance, but Bentley gave her a stern look until she stopped along with a small smirk to compliment her again. The mouse blushed again and perked her ears questioningly. Bentley sighed and shrugged, the mouse now sulking in her chair until she quickly felt a need to make a verbal retort.

"Took you long enough to figure it out... I thought the note would've been easy for a genius like you." The silent conversation went unnoticed until she spoke and attracted Carmelita's attention.

"Well, _you_ were stupid enough to go this length just to leave an obvious clue. I can't believe that you actually went through with kidnapping and-"

"Murder... His vitals are not responding... I can't do anything else for him." Carmelita sighed and brought up her radio to call in a DOA but still only received static.

The rest of the room was in a stunned silence, Bentley shooting Penelope a facial expression that made the small mouse cower.

"Cause?"

"S-System-wide s-shutdown... His b-body must've failed him." Penelope said softly, figuring the noble course of admitting to what she didn't intend to accomplish. "I... never meant for this... Bentley... Grimm had a hate chip."

Two of the four other people in the room gasped and immediately knew the significance of those two words together. The third person was still motionless on the couch and the fourth was kneeling by his body. A fifth person was Murray, but he entered the room at a moment too late to know..

Bentley wheeled himself close to her chair, looking into her eyes. "Are you certain?"

"Yes. Of course! His story was that Clockwerk made a stunt-double, right? He needed to put a hate chip to give Hund that ability." Murray got the idea now but stayed silent.

"Where was H- Grimm's hate chip discovered?"

"His necklace. It was placed separately so that he was vulnerable and can be discarded."

"Like how Paradox used you?"

Penelope was struck silent, so Diana chimed in. "Stop calling him names like that! He wasn't disposable like some garbage! He was very important to me! He kept me from ending my life after my accident and I loved him." Diana made a soft squeak as she tried to stand. When she let go of his arm and started to pull away, Diana still felt a resisting force pull her back. "He... He's alive!"

"Bentley... The monitors are all out... All my equipment that I used in him is disabled." Penelope said in her soft mouse voice.

"My radio... I contacted Bentley when we were asking for the room number. It worked just fine... But now..." Carmelita had a hushed tone, kneeling to inspect the wolf's body.

"Is he coming back?! Someone give me answers!" Diana cried out, alternating between looking at all the stunned faces and looking down at Grimm.

No one said anything and just waited for what was beginning to happen to perform.

The blood on Grimm's open paw shifted and arced into a serpentine form. The red snake slowly turned navy blue and slid up Grimm's arm. Any red on the wolf's lips was quickly fading. Bentley opened up his holographic prompt and wasn't surprised to discover a faint signal.

"I- I don't know what it is... It's rewriting its own source code as I try to access it." Bentley's typing was more and more frantic as time passed.

"He's... He's coming back! I can feel it!" Diana cried, watching as Grimm's eyes opened. The irises were blue and rotating, now shifting and alternating in direction as if to eliminate the possibility of moving in a specific pattern.

The three monitors on Penelope's make-shift work station blinked on the heart rate monitor emitting the same dull tone while Grimm's brain activity lit up like a kaleidoscope. The laptop showed no foreign signal but Bentley's screen showed lines of code that rained over his screen like a waterfall.

The power surged violently and Grimm's body jerked in alert. The heart rate monitor was active once again; Grimm's heart was beating. The data on the brain activity monitor had become unreadable and Grimm's pulse was steady and normal.

The wolf drew a long sigh, slowly moving his limbs as if testing if he was a statue or not. Bentley's monitor displayed a command prompt with foreign characters written and a single line of legible text.

"The protean nature of the computer is such that it can act like a machine or like a language to be shaped and exploited."

And then Bentley's screen showed no data. Everyone was watching as Grimm slowly sat up on the couch, his eyes still open as mechanic blue color faded. It was replaced with a new color, the honey-yellow tint of a natural wolf. Grimm finally blinked and fell forward, Diana catching him and helping him sit on his own. The heart-rate monitor was the only thing giving updates on Grimm's condition.

Diana was closest to Grimm, so she was the one to talk to him.

"G-Grimm? Are you okay?"

"Yeah... Just a headache... This isn't the hotel room, is it?"

"N-No... it's not. Do you remember what happened?"

"I... remember waking up here... earlier... I remember her." Grimm slowly pointed to Penelope with a less-than-steady hand.

"And what happened? What did she do to you?"

"It's... day, isn't it? I survived the night."

"Y-Yeah..."

"She fixed me. No... She... I fixed me... She... You..." Grimm was glancing at Penelope before getting up and kneeling in front of the timid mouse.

"You freed me. You did it... What did you do?"

Penelope slowly looked around as all eyes were on her. "You had a piece of circuitry that controlled your body. I wirelessly disabled it, but it had some effects. The hate-chip was attempting to control you and when I attacked it, it attempted to destroy you. It must've been some back-up protocol that could be deactivated on command and eliminate any trace of the system."

"I see." Grimm took steady breaths and then turned to Diana, taking her hand. "I should've told you... I did get an answer. All they knew was that my body was destroying itself and I had a month to live. Then we discussed PTSD stimuli... The smoke in the air... It triggered and accelerated the process. I would be dead before the week was out... Wait, why is she handcuffed?"

"Well, I um... kidnapped you. Drugged and dragged you here." Penelope admitted, Carmelita's radio blaring a loud warning. "Inspector Fox, respond. Back-up is on route. Acknowledge."

"Inspector Fox reporting. Belay the back-up."

"Inspector, what the hell happened to you out there?" It was Barkley's voice on the radio.

"Radio jammed. Updates on the case."

"Likewise. You first."

"Suspect is in custody and the kidnap victim has been... recovered."

"Excellent! Condition?"

"Alive and well, thanks for asking, Jimmy." Grimm huffed out, Carmelita blinking in response and her boss barking out how he disliked that name. Barkley eventually cooled off and gave orders to arrest Penelope on charges of Prison Escape and Kidnapping if Grimm and Diana were to press charges.

Bentley and Penelope collaborated in another silent conversation, the mouse showing watery and pleading eyes to the turtle. Bentley scoffed and turned away but couldn't hold a tear at what Penelope would have to suffer through. She gazed again with her begging look and Bentley sighed.

Penelope hung her head down but perked her ears and spoke up as Grimm and Diana were debating about the kidnapping charge. "I know where Sly is!"

The room went silent and Murray now stepped forward, towering over the mouse. Bentley was even stunned by her words and had a wide-eyed expression. He earned a small giggle and blush from her and responded with a blushing and a knowing smile.

"You're bluffing..." Carmelita huffed, twirling the handcuff keys. Grimm tried to stand and failed, falling into Carmelita with a nervous chuckle. Diana had lunged forward to help Grimm but was too slow and helped Grimm sit back down with her on the couch.

"I'm not! Grimm saw it!" Penelope begged.

"Impossible." Carmelita muttered, straightening her coat and slipping her key ring into the inner pocket.

"How would he have seen it?" Bentley inquired.

"Because Clockwerk saw it and shared his memories with Grimm! Wherever Sly is, he started everything about Clockwerk because that's what the bird had scarred into his own memory! It's gotta be that!" Penelope squeaked out a reply since the cuffs were a bit tight on her wrists.

"So when did Clockwerk first become Clockwerk?" Murray asked with an almost dazed expression.

"I still don't trust her. She could be lying to get out a prison sentence. We can't go groveling-"

"Inspector... Can I add something?" Grimm caught her off guard from her thought process. The inspector heard Diana giggle at something.

"Yes, what is it?"

"I have your badge. As of this moment, you have no legal responsibility." Grimm showed her real badge, Carmelita looked around the room to see if anyone noticed and only Diana had a sheepish grin. "You need to not let your job cloud your mind. Speak freely. The wolf smiled and agreed.

Carmelita slowly switched off her radio before folding her arms on her chest and sighing. "Look... Penelope... There's nothing I can do for you. I caught you. You aided a criminal mastermind and escaped prison."

"Oh come on... Since when are there laws in regards to time travel?"

"There never were any, but there is a law against breaking out of prison and escaping scot-free."

"F-Fine... I... I'll tell you where he is."

Carmelita was about to question a change of heart, but Bentley shot a quick glance.

Penelope gave a short and sweet answer and two of the three collected parties were ecstatic with the news. The third party was a duo of canines flirting with each other and thereby exempt from the conversation.

"I read the Thievius Raccoonus hundreds of times. Why didn't I see anything before?"

"Is it my turn to speak?" Diana chimed in and all turned to hear. She was blushing and now sitting in Grimm's lap, the wolf wrapping his arms around her waist and nuzzling her neck. "Some people like to believe that their future is influenced by what I tell them and it's true in some right. Others believe that the future is set in stone. What if you haven't noticed anything because it was exactly the same as you first saw it. Like it was meant to happen and set in stone?"

"Bentley... If Clockwerk saw and remembered Sly and Sly did start it all..."

"Then he was supposed to go back in time. It was all predetermined. It was written in the book! Right there under our noses!"

Diana squealed, meaning that Grimm did something embarrassing to her before he spoke. "But he would've died had I not stepped in. Inspector Fox would've been in danger as well."

"That's right... I took a bullet... But I was there and with the gang for the most part when they went back." Carmelita huffed, her tail proving her earlier anxious feeling.

"That's true. Inspector Fox had played a critical part in the recovery of Sly's ancestors. If she or Sly never made it to the final battle..."

"Then there's a good chance that Sly would've never gone back, had he been killed or broken-hearted."

"But that's a paradox. Those are bad and could tear the universe apart."

"But it was on our side..." Diana had just returned a kiss to Grimm's cheek, finishing her thought. "It brought Grimm to you and to me so that everything could be fixed."

"So that explains those odd things that happened when we all first met Grimm. He was supposed to help Grimm that day. If he never went, then..."

"I'd be dead..." Diana exhaled softly and Grimm did something to make her squeal and cheer up.

"And then Sly wouldn't be there either, so he'd be safe." Carmelita pointed out, the others remaining silent until Murray spoke what everyone was thinking.

"And then no one would have saved you..."

The room had now fallen silent save for the sounds of the two canines still flirting with each other. "We've decided to not press charges." Diana was able to say.

"Well, that solves that problem. And we have half of another problem left." Bentley smiled wide, turning his chair to the door. Murray took a cue and ran ahead to start the van. "All interested parties can follow us and rescue Sly."

Carmelita huffed and dragged Penelope out by her cuffs, the mouse with her head hung low.

"I can't let her go or say she slipped away. I'd get fired. You and I both know what she's facing when I turn her in."

"Inspector! You left your badge!" Grimm rushed out, passing the badge over to the fox. Carmelita chuckled and pulled the wolf aside to talk to him. Diana got up and walked over to where Bentley and Penelope were about to have another silent conversation.

"Hiya." Diana had a cheery disposition and Penelope sulked in reply. "I'm not mad at you, you know."

"I can see that. Might I ask why?"

"You saved his life. Grimm never did tell me how much time he had and he would've been lost at the start of a relationship. I don't think I could've handled that."

"So what now?" Bentley huffed and leaned back in his chair.

"Oh come on, guys... You can't fool someone who reads body language as part of her day job. I know you two had a thing."

Both Bentley and Penelope blushed, so Diana smiled. "I still got it after all! Now... What Grimm has told me was that your gang calls the law as a collection of guidelines more than actual rules. If that's the case, then..." Diana reached into her back pocket, pulling Carmelita's handcuff key into view.

"Where'd you get that?"

"From when Grimm fell on Inspector Fox and took her badge. I snuck forward and unclipped her key. She probably noticed. I'm just gonna... drop it right here..." That's just what she did, 'accidentally' dropping the key in front of a handcuffed suspect...

The key remained where it was for a moment, so Diana went over to where Grimm was. Bentley finally picked it up and held it for a moment, looking at Penelope.

"Bentley... Please..."

"She's right... We don't usually follow the law, do we?"

Penelope went a bit further and straddled Bentley, leaning down to kiss him. They whispered to each other for a moment before Carmelita turned to take Penelope away.

"Send a message when you know exactly where and when Sly is..." The fox said, solemnly.

"Will do..."

Murray and Bentley left in the Cooper van and disappeared. Grimm and Diana followed Inspector Fox to close a kidnapping case. Both Diana and Penelope were shocked to see that Carmelita was sorting through her keys to free the mouse while Barkley and Grimm chatted like comrades.

"Tell no one, you too... If we rescue Sly... I'm leaving the force. My job is conflicting with my personal life and I'm making a choice. Where is my key..."

All three ladies found a giggle as Penelope was freed and the key was returned. Technically, Penelope 'stole the key and made her escape' after everything that Carmelita was present for was taken care of. As far as Barkley knew -or he knew more than he was showing and just decided to write it down in the report a certain way- Carmelita was off-duty when Penelope had made her escape. Penelope was given instructions to follow by Bentley and followed them to the letter, knowing what possible futures that weren't set in stone.

###


	13. Operation: Raccoon Rescue: Phase 1

~Location: Cooper Hideout - Paris, France~  
>~DateTime: Present Day, Afternoon~

"Where are you gonna start looking, Bentley? Isn't Egypt kind of large?" Murray asked questioningly as they arrived at the hideout.

Bentley smiled and nodded in agreement. "It is a large place to search, but if the 'set in stone' theory is correct, Sly might've told us exactly where to look already."

"So what now?"

"Actually, you can do me a favor and pick up Inspector Fox as soon as her shift ends. I'll look through as much of the files as I can and make a quick slideshow to show everyone."

"Gotcha."

Murray did have to wait until later in the evening to find Inspector Fox leaving work. As she climbed into the van, she made a comment about Penelope escaping a second time. Murray was none the wiser about what she mentioned and took her to the Cooper Hideout for Bentley's presentation with a mere shrug.

"Is everyone seated?"

"More or less..." The Fox leaned against the wall, watching intently.

"Good enough for me. Now, you all remember the mention of things being set in stone? I went back into Sly's history and I started at Ancient Egypt. I learned that Sly had three ancestors in that time period."

Bentley changed the slides and showed the first ancestor depicted in Sly's family book.

"Slytunkhamen I... He was the creator of the Thievius Raccoonus and master of the Shadow Power technique, an ability that allows a member of the Cooper family to become invisible."

Murray and Carmelita both nodded in understanding, so Bentley continued. Another slide appeared in place of the first and the turtle explained who was depicted on it.

"Slytunkhamen II... He was the mastermind behind the Cooper Vault. It is said that he also used the Shadow Power technique as his father did before him. Slytunkhamen II was also an expert in trap-making specifically for ancient tombs and I believe that he used that skill in his production of the Cooper Vault mechanics."

The other two nodded again. Bentley had one more slide to show.

"Slytinkhamen III... He is the son of Slytunkhamen II and... That's it."

Carmelita and Murray sat up with peaked interest but Bentley simply smiled and continued. "You guys are gonna like this... I'm gonna show all three at the same time and I want you two to tell me what you see."

#Bentley's Slideshow: /a/hqrrn#

Carmelita was the first to make an observation, but not the kind that Bentley expected. "Why are you leading us into an elaborate little game? Is there a reason you're not telling us about Sly right here and now?"

Murray blinked and looked back between Inspector Fox and Bentley, waiting for one of them to give an answer.

The turtle gave an answer. "I could just tell you what I know, but I actually know a lot. I figure it would be easier this way. I have an answer and I'll tell you everything."

"So back to the little game, then..." Carmelita studied the three images and came up with an idea. "The third one... He's carrying a sack that the other two aren't... But... That... That's the dollar sign!"

"Bingo. Inspector Fox has the first one. There's one more." Bentley smirked. Carmelita had gotten the idea by now and leaned back against the wall.

It was up to Murray to get the next clue and he got it rather quickly. "The guy in the third picture has Sly's cane..."

"Very nice observation, Murray. Slytunkhamen I and Slytunkhamen II both have Cooper canes of an Ancient Egyptian style. I'm willing to bet that Slytunkhamen II used his father's canes. I find it very odd that Slytunkhamen III uses a cane _very_ similar to Sly's _and _happens to be carrying a sack that bears a symbol that has a striking resemblance to the American Currency symbol."

"Slytunkhamen, the third, is Sly!" Murray exclaimed happily. "Let's go get him Bentley!"

"Now hold on a moment... We're missing a key component in order to go get him."

"And what would that be?" Carmelita stepped back to where she was before, finding that she was reaching for the door.

"The time machine needs an object from a specific time in order to transport us to that time. Without that, we might as well have nothing."

"You know where he is, though. We can get something from a museum like we did last time." Murray regretted the comment and Carmelita gave a glare.

"Off-duty or not, I'm not going to just stand around and let you steal something again." The fox huffed out her stern warning and crossed her arms to indicate that she was sincere.

"Well, we won't have to steal anything, or at least I hope not. If you let me finish, I'll tell you. I'm eager to rescue Sly, but if we're going back in time, we need to know what happened so that we don't mess anything up."

"But didn't Sly mess things up when he went back?" Murray tilted his head curiously.

"Well, technically, Sly seems to have fixed something very crucial when he went back. It was if as he was supposed to go back. We have to find out what he did and make sure that we don't arrive early and mess it up and we don't arrive too late and..." At this moment, Bentley's prompt made a short noise and Bentley tended to the alert. What he read made him speechless.

Bentley's pause caught his audience's attention and both listeners were eager for an explanation. They were both silent and waited for his response this time.

"Yeah... I know what Sly does- err... did..." Bentley pauses and takes a long series of breaths before he continues. "Are either of you familiar with what the Pharaoh is in Ancient Egypt?"

"Why don't you just tell us? You can tell us, right?"

"..." Bentley adjusted his glasses before he continued. "Sly steals from Pharaoh in order to try and signal us. He um... He left a message in hieroglyphics that my computer just translated. I'll spare the reading of the entire thing and I'll just quote it. 'My ancestor tells me that the job that we're gonna do is a dangerous mission. If I fail and can't reach you guys, then this will be my final goodbye. We've had some great times together...'"

Bentley looked up to the Inspector and showed heavy and slightly-tearing eyes through his thick glasses.

"Inspector Fox, he... wrote a personal message for you. I can-"

Carmelita remained sternly raised a hand to silence him, her reply was just as strict. "I don't want to hear it. One, if it's personal, only I should know what it says. Two, I really don't want to hear it or read it. I believe that we will find and rescue Sly. I'm confident that he will succeed in his mission just as we will in ours. Three... I am getting very impatient..."

"Impatient? You want him back so you can throw in him jail again." Bentley's retaliation was sharp. Murray remained quiet as the two had their battle.

"Of course not! I-"

"Oh, of course! He's been in an out of jail for far too long and you want him to get a death penalty with the upcoming law."

"But..."

"I'm quite sure you've heard of it, Inspector... Prisons are filling up from cops arresting their targets. Next month, all fugitives of the law that are globally wanted or have several repeated crimes in their history will be executed in order to free space in those jails."

"I know about the law!"

"Ah ha! I knew it!"

"You've got it wrong! I want to save him!"

"How would you do that?"

"I'm quitting the force!"

Bentley was struck silent and allowed her to continue.

"It's been on my mind for weeks now... I didn't have any other idea to keep him alive. If he got captured... The law is above Barkley's control. Anyone else hunting him would be authorized to use deadly force. If I caught him, I'd have to watch his execution... I can't bear that."

After a moment, Bentley rolled up to now-crying fox and cupped her hand in his. "A lot of the fun in Sly's life is having you chase him. Without that..."

"I know... Dios... I love him... I was hoping that if he kept stealing, I won't be around police to hear about what happens."

"So you are sincere about it now?" Bentley had a light smile on his face to try and cheer her up.

"Yeah. No point in hiding it anymore; is what I'm thinking."

Murray had been listening and now decided to make a comment. "But what about the whole... Carmelita Cooper, thing? Weren't you and Sly gonna get married?"

The inspector's ears perked in attention and she blushed at the question. "Oh, that? It was a bit of a joke... I- umm... don't think Sly would be giving up everything anytime soon. And before you ask... He did fake amnesia and while all that was sweet... He wasn't completely mine... you know?"

"Sly's not gonna like hearing this..."

"He's not gonna know. Not until the law keeps him away from anything with a badge."

"I see..." Bentley sighed and rolled back to his earlier position to continue the presentation.

Carmelita raised a brow. "That's it? You're not going to pester me about it?"

The turtle shook his head. "No. Your life is your own to manage. Besides, I got all I needed."

"Say again?"

"I merely noticed that something had been bugging you. I just wanted to know about what it actually was and now you've given that information."

"I- grr..." The fox crossed her arms and huffed with a slight smirk. "Unwillingly..."

"I beg to differ." Bentley adjusted his glasses again and typed out a short line of code on his prompt. "Long story short, I know where the artifact we need is, thanks to Slytunkhamen II posting something significant in his section. The artifact is in Egypt. As soon as we can find it, we can rescue Sly. Conveniently, his ancestor also gave us a message directly telling where Sly will hide out after their mission. The plan is to find what Sly's trying to accomplish, wait until he succeeds, and meet him at the rendezvous point with him and take him home."

"When can we go, Bentley?" Murray was already at the door again, eager as ever.

Bentley started closing up his display area and turning off equipment, rolling towards the door when he was finished. "I see no reason why we can't leave now. Inspector, Are you free for the next few hours?"

"Hours? It'll take days to simply drive there. But yes, I can be free for a few _hours_." Carmelita made sure that she was armed but would be unprepared for days out of the city."

"Well, if the hypothesis I have is correct, we will need at most two days. I think it would be wise to stock up on supplies."

Nothing that a trip to a local convenience store couldn't fix... Carmelita was still convinced that the journey itself would take days, but that was before Bentley revealed upgraded engines on the Cooper Van. They would arrive sooner than if they had taken a private jet and they did, in fact.

Now, digging through sand and rocks in the Egyptian Desert doesn't sound much of an exciting thing to do or write about... I'll just say that the artifact they found was left in the Slytunkhamen homestead and makeshift hideout. According to instructions left in one of Slytunkhamen II's entries (as well as being proven by discovery); a sewn swatch of fabric in the shape of the Cooper emblem was left alone in a secret room of Slytunkhamen's home. The Egyptian raccoon had sketched the shape in his entry to match it for reference.

Bentley was perplexed by the significance of it all. That shape must've been from something that he found on Sly, perhaps a calling card Sly left or a belt he wore. That symbol would be passed on through Sly's history. Future ancestors bore the mark and it became a signature of the Cooper Legacy.

Now the color-faded fabric that had a few holes in the weak cloth would serve as a beacon for the last remaining Cooper to find his way home.

Being an extremely piece of fragile fabric meant that it had to be gently escorted back to the van. Bentley lowered it into the receptacle and lightly prayed that the time machine would accept such an artifact. The green light was given and Bentley had to crunch some numbers to figure out the decay rate of a piece of fabric in a closed space for thousands of years. That didn't take long, but Bentley has to be accurate to not risk misjudging the time.

Through the concept of carbon-dating, Bentley discovered long ago that physical objects have a period of time in which they exist. He compared it to train tracks that ran parallel to each other, one track starting where the existence of the item began and ending where the item is destroyed. Bentley theorized that if the process of decay in an object was reversed, they'd be metaphorically riding the item's track of existence in reverse. Thus, a discovery was made when time acted as a whole amongst all objects and reversed a universal clock as well.

Bentley gave the green-light to Murray and he put the petal to the metal like he always did. Bentley's discovery was being proven again as the small piece of cloth was returning to its original state.

They made the first big step in rescuing Sly.

###


	14. The Seen Story

~Location: City, Middle Class - Egypt~  
>~DateTime: 1300 B.C., Operation Golden Ticket: Day 2; Evening~

"Sire! Ausar!" A voice called out to the vizier who was on his daily route among the city. The owl stopped and glared at where the voice supposedly came from.

"I'm no sire... I am no king. Do not address me as such while I live under Pharaoh's rule."

"But you wish to be rid of the one you serve. You wish to be free from Pharaoh's rule, yes?" The voice was found to be from a cloaked figure until it did something unexpected. It stepped forth to Ausar and lowered its hood to him, revealing a raccoon face along with a striped tail poking from the robe.

"Trap-maker... Cooper... What business do you have addressing me like this?"

"Sire, what if Pharaoh died tonight?"

"Leave me before I summon guards to arrest you for such treachery."

"Then you miss the chance to be free!"

"Why must you talk of this?"

The cloaked raccoon lead the owl to a nearly empty street in the rural district. The only other person in the area was a female busy with some laundry. She gasped and hid once she saw the two coming. The raccoon continued. "Because I can change your life, make it so you never have to serve under Pharaoh again."

Now alone and away from the public, Ausar can prove his peak in interest in the proposition. "I'm listening... You can accomplish this?"

"I have an accomplice. We can do it together."

"I want no part of this. If you fail, you two and only you two must taste the Nile."

"I won't be asking much from you. We have a plan prepared."

Ausar looked around the vacant street for a moment and then back to the raccoon. "What do you require?"

"Tonight, Pharaoh is having supper in his main dining hall, yes?"

The owl nodded in response. "I will be acting as security for the evening. My guards have gone missing for some reason. They eventually returned but the lead guard arrived first and talked nonsense of a shepherd falling from the sky and the protective shadows muting his legion. The punishment for a second failed capture was deserved. His legion will learn from that."

The raccoon smirked for a moment before he processed the remainder of the owl's statement. A questioning gaze earned an irritated glare. Slytunkhamen got the suspicion that the lead guard from before received more than his other ear being torn. Hopefully the remaining guards were reassigned to a position in the world of the living. "Then with you acting as security, let me and my accomplice inside. We can take care of the rest from there."

"That is all? You and your accomplice will murder Pharaoh as he dines?"

"That is all I need of you. Sire... one more request..."

"Name it."

"We would demand payment for the deed. This payment must be from Pharaoh's own collection of jewels and we shall take no substitute."

The owl glared and processed the request. The deed would be simple. Some jewels from Pharaoh's treasury would be enough. Besides, he would hunt for the killers and capture them himself. If that payment was found, who could prevent the corrupt vizier from claiming a reward? With Pharaoh deceased; there would be nothing against him. He would indeed be free. Such a tempting offer provided with little cost to him... The owl couldn't refuse.

There still was something else tempting to the owl. The Coopers were pests to Pharaoh's rule. At long last, Slytunkhamen II would be in the palace walls for a double-cross. He could seize the Coopers himself and Pharaoh would reward the success very handsomely.

After a few minutes, Ausar made his decision verbal. "Your terms are accepted. Come to the palace gates tonight to discuss your payment, trap-maker."

"Aye. I shall."

They left the street and parted ways. Ausar returned to his proper role and failed to mention any of this to Pharaoh. The owl contemplated that mentioning an assassination attempt would lead to the notion that he was involved in it. Turns out, he had fell victim to the plan since he agreed to provide payment. The vizier needed to make a plan and fast. Perhaps his lead guard could've been given a third chance instead of being banished to the land of the dead.

Slytunkhamen returned home some time later to see Sly sewing something. "I sealed our fates..."

Sly sat up abruptly, beginning to breath heavier. "Did... everything go well?" He could be prepared to run... But he didn't know if he had enough time.

"He took the offer just like you said he would."

Sly exhaled to a relaxed state and continued sewing his craft. "Ah. So everything went smooth."

Slytunkhamen exhaled loudly and collapsed on his cot, hesitating for a moment before speaking. "Ausar could double-cross us..."

"Don't worry about that. We'll be out with our loot before he can piece together the rug we pulled from under him."

"You don't understand... He knows me. If he remembers where I live, he can call us out."

Sly stopped his sewing again and thought about it for a moment. "He wouldn't do that. You gave him an offer that he wants fulfilled. If anything, he's going to try and nab us after we've done the deed."

"Great... Makes me feel so much better about it..." Was this the invention of sarcasm? Sly didn't know history well enough to know. "We aren't killing Pharaoh... Right?"

"You aren't... The plan is that you handle the payment and I take care of it so that I get seen."

"You can't be serious about killing him... How else do you plan to get his crown?"

"I don't plan to even hurt him. You're forgetting one crucial fact about us Coopers."

"I am?"

"You forgot that Coopers are seen only when they want to be seen." Sly smirked and went back to his sewing.

His ancestor chuckled and then noticed the stitch-work. "What are you making?"

"A sack, of course. You said for me to get something to carry my winnings in."

"Indeed I did, but that is not what intrigued me... What symbol are you sewing onto the bag?"

Sly blinked and looked down, seeing a dollar sign sewn into the bag he was working on. At this point, he forgot whether or not he added it intentionally or added it without a conscious thought. "Oh. It's a symbol from where I come from."

"Do you think your friends will see the symbol?"

"You know, now that I think about it, I'm counting on if they can see it. My friends are smart enough to know that the symbol doesn't make sense here."

"Well, then good luck to you." Slytunkhamen collapsed back onto his cot and relaxed.

"Wait... It's not going to work... I'm such an idiot..." Sly huffed and stopped his work again.

"What?" Sly's ancestor tilted his head and sat back up again.

"No cameras... How would you record something?"

"The scribes take notes. Anger the Pharaoh, then he'll remember you enough to tell them everything. You'll be carved into the wall for sure."

"Carved into the wall? Sounds morbid..." Eventually, Sly picked up his craft and continued his work, showing off the symbol on his sack. "Think they'd see that?"

"Don't worry. They'll see it." Slytunkhamen was more relaxed about things, despite what they were about to do. He was even lying back down on his cot again.

Sly made the final adjustments and finished his creation, a burlap sack with a significant dollar sign symbol on it. "So now what?"

"Well... Tonight, we can have a day as a proper father and son if you are alright with that."

"W-What? Why?"

The older raccoon sat up and stretched. "Well... I've never had a son and you say that Ausar's the reason you have no father. Would it be acceptable for us to remedy that for the evening?"

Sly stood and hugged his ancestor warmly. "What if Ausar sees us? You said he knows you don't have a son."

"I don't care. As far as he knows, you're my accomplice. This may be our last day among the living. I confronted Ausar today. He's not going to stop me now."

That was all he needed to hear from his ancestor. The younger raccoon wasn't local so the older raccoon showed him around the rural city. They visited the markets, had a meal together, and enjoyed some Egyptian sights. They stayed some distance away from the palace since they would be clear to enter later that night. The last few hours were the two of them bonding with the last well-known person to see them alive. It produced a father-son relationship easily, given the age difference between them. Sly was like a young child to be taught the lifestyle of Ancient Egypt.

Night fell quickly and the two of them had to quickly return home to get ready for the mission before they departed. Slytunkhamen was carrying the sack that Sly had made along with his pair of sickle-styled canes and Sly merely carried his signature cane.

They simply casually approached the palace before a few guards raised their spears to the two raccoons. Working as a team, the guards were simply outmatched by the Cooper Duo. Ausar arrived to find his guards incapacitated and his business partners unharmed.

"That wasn't necessary... Pharaoh and his mistress are dining now."

Slytunkhamen II was the one that spoke for now. "Good. Escort my son here to the dining hall to deal with Pharaoh and lead me to handle the payment."

"Son? I am not aware you had a son.""

"He is my accomplice tonight. Slytunkhamen Cooper, the Third." Sly avoided direct eye contact for obvious reasons.

"He appears unfit to proceed."

"He is among the presence of such nobility."

"Then pray he does not bow to Pharaoh enough to allow me to decapitate him."

"What do you mean?"

"I act as Pharaoh's guardian in Pharaoh's presence. I will not hesitate to act. It is my duty after all."

"Of course, Ausar. We are wasting precious opportunity."

"Indeed. I will have a servant escort you to the treasury. Your son can gather his will power and address Pharaoh."

The two raccoons let Ausar lead and Slytunkhamen turned to the younger raccoon in a low whisper. "Your act is convincing."

"I'm not acting... You weren't kidding me about how serious this is."

"You're backing out?"

"Now? Of course not."

"I won't be there to help you. He's leading me to a separate room. I won't know when you are making your strike."

"I'm on my own..."

"Not entirely."

"How so?"

"I have a feeling that we are being watched by a higher power. They'll allow you to succeed."

"I hope that higher power's watching me now..."

When they entered the palace, Ausar gave orders for someone to escort Slytunkhamen down a different path. As Ausar and Sly approached the Pharaoh, the raccoon faded from sight right before the owl's eyes.

"Assassin in the palace! Lord Pharaoh!" Ausar started barking out orders, marking the start of some mayhem. The dinner guests scrambled, Pharaoh falling to his feet only to climb back up and try to run.

When the guards that led Slytunkhamen to the treasury heard the order, heads were turned to the older raccoon and earned a blow to the head. He then made evidence of ransackery and simply stole more than a reasonable amount.

As Slytunkhamen made his way out, he ran into Sly to whom he passed on the sack of jewels and a rope that had been concealed inside the sack when they entered. Sly made a trade of the sack for Pharaoh's crown that he happened to swipe because he luckily 'tripped over his own feet'.

As for the escape, Sly's route was in the path of the dining hall and Slytunkhamen's route was stealthier. As Sly made his way to a window opening, Pharaoh pointed the raccoon out as a thief. It was a nice and slow moment as Sly posed for a few seconds to give enough detail to be remembered.

An untrained guard ran up to attack Sly, but was easily disarmed of a bow and arrow. For Sly, an arrow and a rope at the end of it made a quick escape route and thus an escape was conveniently provided.

With the sack in hand and his cane sliding down the improvised zip-line, Sly made it to outside the palace walls and into the streets of rural Egypt with the Cooper version of a hop, skip, and jump.

Guards were called to give chase, but Sly never came across them. In fact, he started to find it odd that not a single guard got close enough for him to be concerned. He could hear them though. Pharaoh sent plenty guards and he sounded furious about the whole ordeal.

The escape went splendidly and Sly returned back to his ancestor's home to find it vacant of people and belongings as well. If Slytunkhamen made his escape, this isn't where he'd return anytime soon.

However, he wasn't alone in the building now. The building only appeared to be empty. Sly only knew that someone was here when a large muscular opponent tackled and skillfully pinned him to the floor. Sly submitted and waited for the opponent deal the fatal blow.

###


	15. The Unseen Story

~Location: Sand Dunes, Just Outside of the City - Egypt~  
>~DateTime: 1300 B.C., Operation Raccoon Rescue: Day 2; Evening~

The Cooper Van made its decent over the endless sandy desert. Sparks and flashes faded as the van stabilized after a time-jump. Bentley directed Murray to land somewhere that they would not be seen.

"I don't think I need to remind everyone to keep hydrated." Bentley squinted as he rolled out of the back of the van and started to set up shade. Carmelita and Murray emerged; the hippo helping Bentley while the fox looked over the city that wasn't far away.

"I hope you have a plan, Bentley." Carmelita said, turning back to stand under shade.

"I do have a plan. I just need to know when Sly's pulling off his plan. That way, we can coordinate and intervene to rescue him at the right time."

"How do we find that out?" Carmelita reached into a cooler for a water bottle and started to drink.

"We need some reconnaissance work. I brought clothes that are accurate to the location and time period for you two of us to have vantage points in the city. My wheelchair would give me away, so I cannot be seen. What I suggest is a perimeter around Slytunkhamen's building and waiting until Sly or his ancestor to step out."

Carmelita started to march to the city on her own, Bentley urging Murray to follow her and bring her back so she can change. Bentley let the two of them change in the van for privacy and to cool off a bit before they would begin the mission. Murray disguised as a merchant and Carmelita was simply dressed like a rural commoner.

They were both given the location to observe and Bentley monitored their position while they individually took watch of the building's entrance. People passed by the door, but none entered or left for a while.

_"How do we know we aren't late?"_ Carmelita huffed, crossing her arms.

"Because I haven't lost faith." Bentley replied through her ear piece that was hidden in her clothing.

After what seemed like a long wait, a cloaked figure emerged from the building they were scoping. It immediately perked the fox's interest and she made the others aware of this. "I got a visual of someone leaving the building. He's wearing a hood, but I can see a striped tail. I think it's Sly!"

"Can you get close enough to confirm that without being seen? If he sees you, it might jeopardize everything."

"I think I can manage."

Stealthily as ever, Carmelita followed the hooded raccoon to where he was going. She paused when it lowered its hood, the fox frowning a bit. "Negative. It's not Sly, I'm moving out."

"Roger."

The fox stepped quietly passed the raccoon that was now talking to someone and walked down a street. A basket of laundry lay outside and Carmelita looked around before examining the clothes. "I think I found more disguises. Ugh... A bit too revealing..."

"You've been compromised, Inspector! They're following you!"

Carmelita gasped and hid as the raccoon and another figure approached and continued to talk some business. The fox was close by, but out of sight, letting her communicator pick up the conversation.

"Bentley... You hearing this?"

"Indeed. It sounds like they are talking about Sly's heist. If that's not Sly, then it is definitely Slytunkhamen. We are not too late, after all! Okay... They'll be posing as assassins... Tonight... Pharaoh's Dining Hall... A shepherd falling from the sky... I think I have a plan. Head back in you two. We need to go over some details. Murray, make sure the two of you come back without followers."

Murray did so and escorted Inspector Fox out of the city to the waiting turtle inside the Cooper Van. Bentley didn't have a projector set up, so he found a whiteboard and mounted it before drawing up plans.

"We know where Sly is going to be. He and his ancestor, Slytunkhamen, are heading to Pharaoh's Palace and will act out an assassination attempt. According to what I heard from Inspector Fox's eavesdropping and taking what I read from the Thievius Raccoonus into consideration; it brings me to the conclusion that the attempt is a façade, so no actual killing will take place."

The other two remained quiet for Bentley's presentation.

"There's one thing we have to keep in mind. We have to watch over Sly and protect him without interfering with his path or making direct contact until he reaches the extraction point. I have decided on a few individual tasks for us during Sly's mission tonight. Carmelita, I'll need you to be monitoring Sly's progress up close, so I'll have you in disguise in the dining hall. Murray, I'm counting on your physical training for your role. I need you to the disable wooden chariots so that Sly would have less to deal with when he makes his escape."

Bentley paused for a moment and stopped writing with the marker, humming in thought. "Okay... There's a problem... I know Sly gives people a show in the dining hall here and that's where Carmelita can be..." He marks it on a map he had brought from the present, marking a second dot. "This is where Sly is to rendezvous with his ancestor, but Slytunkhamen personally left us a message saying that he won't be there and is actually leaving Sly for us to find him and take him home. That's where we can intervene. I was thinking about Murray waiting there for him and leading him to the van."

"I can do that, Bentley. No problem."

"I know you can, but there is a problem. I'm missing a key factor. There's no way for me to know what path Sly takes from the palace to the rendezvous point. As soon as he leaves the palace to the streets, I have nothing."

Carmelita thought about it for a moment, glancing at the map. "What if we followed him to see what path he takes? I can follow him on the streets."

"I'm listening... You follow him from below and take a path behind him from the beginning. I can pick a vantage point and watch from above. When I lose sight of him, Murray can join the chase and clear Sly's path from there."

"So what happens when we meet Sly?" Bentley hummed in thought at Murray's question, scribbling things on the board.

"Good question... Murray, on second thought; take one of the chariots with you after destroying the rest of them. Don't let Sly see you until he meets you at the rendezvous point and wait for the rest of us to meet you two there. Although, I'm going to have to keep a low profile since I can't be seen like this. How about you take Sly and Carmelita to the van in the chariot and I make my way to the van as soon as I lose visual of Sly?"

"I can do that too! That'll be so easy!"

"Fantastic! Inspector Fox, anything to add?"

"Yes, one thing."

"Name it."

"I'm not dressing up to dance for a pack of monkeys again, am I?" Carmelita huffed and crossed her arms.

"Actually, you won't be dressing like that at all. I need you to blend in with the crowd of royals and slip away when Sly makes his escape."

"Oh. So not dressing like an exposed belly-dancer... I'm in."

"More like posing as Pharaoh's wife and sitting quietly until you see Sly."

"Like I said, count me in."

Later that night, the game was afoot. Murray wore his merchant's attire and found a way inside the palace walls. There, he met the owl Ausar, who seemed to be in a hurry this evening.

"Bentley... What if I screw it up?" Murray failed to mention that it was one of his first disguise missions out on the field.

"Just take a deep breath. You can do this, pal. I'm counting on you to get that chariot. You can do this."

Murray nodded and approached the arrangement of wooden chariots, studying them like a potential buyer would. Ancient Egyptian structure wasn't up to the task of Murray's complete examination, one of the spokes snapping like a twig from a wheel. Murray dropped the spoke and acted casual as Ausar approached him. The owl that discovered the merchant was a bit impatient, pacing around quite often.

"Who are you and what purpose have you here?"

Murray cleared his throat and glanced back at all the chariots lined up. "Might I buy one of these?"

"A merchant... Offering to purchase one of Pharaoh's War Chariots? Out of the question. Away with you."

_"Come on back Murray. We'll think of something else."_

Murray had something else in mind and stopped the vizier from walking away. "I can pay for it. I'd like this one right here." Murray pointed out the one that received his less-than-gentle touch and the owl seemed interested in an unfair deal.

"... Very well. I'll bring forth a scribe to record the trade and let him deal with you. If you excuse me, I have other duties tonight."

Murray bowed and Ausar walked off, a scribe taking his place soon after. No actual trade was ever supposed to take place and all Murray had to do was knock-out the scribe and leave him on the disabled chariot before actually picking one to take with him. He did manage to break the others before he left the palace walls with a working chariot, setting his fake merchant goods in the chariot and rolling away with it.

Now it was Carmelita's turn. She had to take the position of Pharaoh's wife and had to find an appropriate disguise. Getting in the palace walls wasn't very difficult since she posed as Murray's merchant stash. As soon as the scribe was rendered unconscious, she was able to slip away from his large backpack and into the actual palace.

As soon as Carmelita stepped inside, a servant noticed her and escorted her to the royal quarters.

"My Queen... You are not yet dressed for dinner tonight. Pharaoh would not like this at all."

Carmelita followed to where the Royal Bedchambers was, letting the servant lay out a costume of silk and jewels. Not wanting disrobe completely before a male servant, she shooed him away and dressed before he escorted her towards the dining area. Up ahead, Carmelita saw Pharaoh's real wife storming towards them. Carmelita's eyes met hers and the fox knew she had to think of something.

The fox was crafty as she dashed into another doorway and hid, the servant acting bewildered until his Queen approached.

"Queen? Are you alright?"

"Take me to my chambers... I am not yet ready to dine with Pharaoh."

When the servant was still bewildered, the Queen snapped. "What is with you?"

"Forgive me... I'm seeing double tonight, my apologies."

"Ah... I see... I'm seeing double as well... The wine was strong, apparently."

"Would you like to lie down?"

"Yes... Please escort me before I start to lose my balance. You should do the same before Pharaoh has you executed."

The servant nodded and did so, Carmelita stepping out into the hallway and walking towards the dining area.

_"Bentley... What was that all about?"_

_"Coincidence... Luck... I think this is related to the temporal anomalies we observed with Hund."_

_"Translation?"_

_"The universe is working with you. Everything should fall into place now."_

Carmelita was a bit hesitant but sat at the table with the rest of the royal family. Pharaoh joined soon after, sitting to Carmelita's side while maintaining a position at the head of the table.

Nothing happened for quite some time. When something actually happened, it happened rather quickly. She was rushed out of the way by a few servants, but she did get a chance to see Sly. He looked just like he did in the hieroglyphics. With the embroidered sack in one hand and signature cane in the other, he made an improvised escape out a window to the rural streets.

Stage One was now in play: Carmelita made her escape amidst the general frenzy and followed Sly's path, relaying directions to Bentley. The turtle had his own vantage point on a roof where he can't be seen. Aided by the telescopic view of his Binocucom, he followed Sly's path until he had a visual of the raccoon. Stage Two was in effect: Carmelita taking caution to not be seen as she made her way to the rendezvous point. Bentley watched for Sly's general direction, letting Murray know what path the raccoon took so that Murray could intervene and be undiscovered. Stage Three was underway: Murray's turn to watch Sly and quickly stun guards if they got in his way.

Disabling the wooden chariots earlier limited Pharaoh's response time to the attack. Very few guards were posed out in the streets and the trio (Bentley, Carmelita, and Murray) didn't let a single guard get within 5 feet of Sly.

Carmelita arrived at Slytunkhamen's home through a back way and Murray managed to run inside before Sly arrived. The hippo simply couldn't resist giving Sly a friendly tackle-hug, pinning the raccoon to the ground.

"So glad to see you, Sly!"

"Heh. Great to see you too, Murr. What's the occasion?"

"Rescue mission. Bentley's waiting for us, so let's get going!"

"Lead the way, old pal."

As soon as Murray let him stand, Sly was urged outside to where Murray had a chariot waiting. As they were about to leave, Sly saw a gorgeous fox climb into the back of the chariot with him.

"Not leaving without me, Ringtail..."

Sly was indeed ecstatic to see her again, but Bentley made it aware to Murray that time was of the essence. Everyone was inside the van and flying away into a time-jump faster than Sly could even get a word out.

###


	16. Welcome Home

~Location: City Streets - Paris, France~  
>~DateTime: Present Day (Seven Months Since Sly Disappeared), Mid-Afternoon~

Despite having just rescued Sly, the ride home was quiet. Maybe Murray was focused on driving and Bentley was occupied with urging Murray to not run red lights. That still left Sly and Carmelita sitting across each other in the back of the van. Not a word was traded between them.

There might be a reason why they were silent. Carmelita was worrying about the conflict with her job and her love-life. The peaceful days between the two of them would pass quicker than ever before the new law is put into effect. She almost couldn't look at him right now, the raccoon with his unknowingly content smile. How could she ever think about telling him? First, she'll leave the force so they won't see each other on missions anymore. Next, the Felon's Law will be enacted meaning that Sly can't be in an officer's line of sight without being killed. If he managed to avoid the use of deadly force and surrender to imprisonment, he'd be diverted to death row. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that she couldn't bear it. Even if no one told her or if she wasn't present for his death, she'd know.

Sly, on the other hand, was happy as can be. Back home to where he belonged with friends and family. He was silent because he was overly excited about what he wanted to do first. Should he eat some pizza? Left-over or not, he really began to miss it. Maybe since he had spent some time in such a humid and dry place, he could drink a whole gallon of water or just splash himself with it. Oh, now he got a great idea... He can shower! Wash all the dirt and sand out of his hair and fur while also cooling himself off. That's what he can do first. However, Sly's mind did change over to Carmelita. God, she was stunning. Neither of them had changed from the Egyptian fashion trend and Sly was simply struck by how beautiful she was. Sly made up his mind right then and there what he wanted to do.

"Date me."

The fox snapped out of her trance and into a stupor. "W-What?"

"You heard me. Go out on a date with me."

"S-Sly... I... Can we?"

"Why can't we? No one has to know who we are. Can't hurt, right?"

Carmelita thought things over and figured that a date should be harmless. "When?"

"Umm... Tonight?"

"Tonight? Sly, neither of us are ready for it, but... Let's do it!"

"Yeah?! Okay, um... How about a steak dinner and a romance movie. You know, like those cliché dates?"

"Sounds perfect. Give me a little time to freshen up and you should do the same. Can I pick you up at eight?"

Sly nodded eagerly and wondered if Bentley and Murray heard any of what had just happened. The Cooper gang dropped Carmelita off at her house first before taking Sly home.

The door of the Cooper hideout swung open as Sly rushed to gather and tend to things. Bentley and Murray entered more slowly; the turtle could never roll slower than he was now even if he tried.

"Bentley... I don't want to tell him. He's really happy right now."

Bentley sighed and rubbed his eyes, the raccoon practically bouncing all over the place. "I'll tell him."

Sly finally stopped and paused, half-dressed in casual clothes with a toothbrush in his mouth. "Tell me what?"

"Sly... Inspector Fox is leaving Interpol."

"Wait, what?"

"Before you think about that, I have to tell you why. There's a law being put into effect that makes it so that wanted criminals, like the Cooper Gang, won't face jail time if we get caught."

"So... We'd be set free?" Sly stood still, listening to his friend's words.

"Well... No. The law is enacting the death penalty."

Sly's eyes grew wide and the raccoon stumbled back into the sofa. "That's... Can they do that?"

"They can. Inspector Fox says that it goes above her superior's influence. There's nothing that anyone at Interpol can do. Inspector Fox has decided that it would be best to be out of Interpol so that news of your death won't reach her."

"But... You wouldn't let me walk into my own grave right? What if we're careful with missions?"

"How long can you expect that to work? It'll only be a matter of time before something goes wrong. Somehow, I know that I'd slip up if our lives were on the line."

"What if I just quit? Could Carmelita and I be together for real?"

"Sly, she says that you wouldn't give up a life a crime because you didn't do it right the first time. I think she's right and I bet you do too."

"I bet I can do it and I bet I can prove it. I just have to show her that I can choose her over stealing and we can be together?"

"That seems to be the only way."

"Then I have one more job for us to pull off. I need you two to help me do it. We're actually going to need a lot of help."

Sly proposed a plan that Bentley was rather fond of and gave kudos on how effective the plan can be if it all succeeded. Amongst the beginning stages of planning the mission, Sly remembered that he had a date later that evening and hurried to get ready.

Carmelita arrived in her red sports car to pick up her date for the evening. She decided if there were to be last moments with Sly; then those moments should be treasured. She wore a casual black dress and heels. Her weapon was purposely left at home because she had a notion that Sly actually wanted a legitimate date to take place. Sly had dressed casually, but he still looked handsome to her.

Things were changing that Carmelita took notice of. First of all, her date offered to pay for the meal and the movie tickets if she managed to pay for popcorn. During their dinner, they were actually conversing. The whole night felt like a dream to her. It was all too perfect how he acted. He focused his attention on making her laugh and only touched someone else's purse when he was returning it to the proper owner. She was alert these certain things before she simply learned to relax and enjoy it. They did have similar tastes in recreation like literature, music, and art. It felt natural to talk about these things with him and they cracked a few jokes about Sly stealing Carmelita's musical idol or at least tickets to a live concert. Sly said he couldn't make promises yet, but did mention giving away some albums in his collection.

Something magical was happening between the two of them. The boundary draw by the law was non-existent. This same thing happened once before when Sly offered himself into her custody after Clockwerk's defeat. What would happen if their titles as cop and criminal were stripped, even for a few hours? Sly noticed that Carmelita was relaxing and enjoying herself and his company, what remained between the two of them was naturally connecting.

Some personal topics did come up. Sly mentioned that he could try a whole new field of parenting if given the chance to settle down. Carmelita gave up a little fact that she was saving herself for marriage before she would even get that far.

With a steak dinner lasting about three hours, they both decided it was time to move to the next planned activity of the night. Carmelita did notice that Sly dropped some cash for the meal and even added a tip, but it was simply played off as a normal thing to do on a date. As they left the restaurant, Sly found himself itching and scratching all over his body. He hoped that it was merely dandruff or he hoped that Carmelita wouldn't notice it if it was something else.

She noticed and was genuinely concerned. "Sly? Were you allergic to something?"

"No... I don't think so." Come to think of it, was he allergic to anything? He didn't really know.

"Oh, well I might have an idea as to what's wrong."

"I'm all ears..." With that, Carmelita turned him to face her and gently reached up to an overhanging lock of hair on his head. Her hand felt as smooth as silk as it brushed his scalp and loosened some grains of sand from his hair.

"You're still covered in sand, silly."

"Yikes... I'm lucky that it didn't fall in the food."

"Wanna take care of it?"

"Nah, I promised dinner and movie, right? That's what you do on a first date or something like that..."

"I doubt you'll be willing to sit still for two hours. Worried about getting sand in the popcorn... and on me..."

"Yeesh... So does that mean the date ends here?" Sly was looking a bit distraught, but she was right about it as he pretended to brush his hair straight and actually check for more sand.

"Well... Doesn't have to... Can we take the movie... to my place? Just pick up a spare set of clothes from the hideout and you can use my shower."

"I'd love that!" Sly was initially happy about the opportunity to wash out the pesky sand before her offer completely clicked into his reasoning. "Wait, can I spend the night?"

"I see no reason why you can't..."

Sly was indeed in a hurry to get home and didn't waste much time as he grabbed a set of light, casual clothes.

"Hey Sly, how was the date?"

"Date's not over. Grabbing stuff... Might be home late... Bye!"

Sly left as abruptly as he arrived, leaving Bentley to crack a wise remark. "I guess the date turned out well after all..."

"Bentley, do you know something I don't know?"

"More than likely... But what would I happen to know about this...?"

###

"Take as much time as you need. I'll set up the movie." Carmelita said, leading Sly to her bathroom. "And I mean it... get as clean as you can."

"Alright, I get it. I know how..." He playfully teased as he stepped in and she closed the door.

Sly disrobed and stepped into the shower, turning the water on. He let the water relax him and sooth him before he started to think about cleaning himself.

And it was at this point, that he felt something soft tracing up his back. It felt like one of the mesh bathing loofahs that she had hanging in the shower, but none of them had moved. He also smelled the foamy body-wash that was on it and found it to be a less of a floral scent than her regular body-wash.

Sly was speechless until Carmelita spoke for him. "I couldn't resist... I brought you the soap and sponge, but you were already in the shower..."

"I see..." was Sly's only response.

"If it disturbs you, I can leave you to bathe yourself."

"I don't remember saying something like that, do you? Please let me turn around..."

"How else am I supposed to wash your front?" She playfully purred at him.

Now, Carmelita was raised to go steady and save herself until she found her Mr. Right, but this was an opportunity she couldn't pass up. Nothing really happened because Carmelita still kept control. She let him look at her in the nude and Sly did the same. He tried to touch her body and she denied, saying that she was just cleaning his body for him. When Sly tried to return the favor, she stopped him before she lost herself and gave a stern warning.

"Sly... I can't... Not yet... I'm sorry."

"I promise. I won't go too far. At least let me wash you."

She nodded and complied, still in control as he was true to his word and innocently washed her as well. When he finished, she had him turn around so that she can get his hair completely clean and wash down his back for him.

As the water flowed down the drain and became silent, Carmelita stepped out and wrapped a towel around herself, looking back at Sly who had collapsed breathlessly on the shower floor.

"Heh. Too much? Take a moment to collect yourself, Stud. I'll be on the couch." She left to dress in her room and Sly was now panting heavily.

"What a woman... If only..." He might've made a decision earlier, but it's more likely that he's wishing that he had made the decision sooner.

Sly dressed in the t-shirt and sweatpants that he picked up from home before he joined on her on the couch a few minutes later and found her dressed in a comfortable nightie. She patted the couch next to her and he sat down without a second notion. She pressed play on the movie and he snuggled up to her, draping a blanket over the two of them. The two of them sat there for a moment on her couch, neither of them speaking as the movie played on.

"So..." After a while, Sly spoke softly, nudging Carmelita's shoulder and enticing a questioning smirk from her. "Are we over?"

"What would give you that idea?" She asked, raising a brow and perking her ears.

"You're leaving, right?"

Carmelita sighed softly and nodded before she spoke again. The smirk had fallen from the fox's face. "I couldn't let you-"

"You don't have to tell me... Bentley kind of briefed me." Sly interrupted, expecting her to get mad anyway.

The fox just sighed. "I thought he would. You guys are brothers. I leave at the end of the week. I've discussed it with my boss already."

"Yeah we are!" Sly nudged her again. "What will you do for money?"

"My job paid well... It'll be several years before I have to think about that."

"What will you do after that?"

"I... I don't know."

"Will I ever see you again?"

"I suppose you can... As long as no one sees you, not even me."

"That's no fun..."

"This isn't a game anymore, Sly. It's our lives. I needed to make a choice and I wanted nothing to do with you if you were killed."

"But you're regretting that choice right now, right?"

"Of course I am... What else is there, though?"

Sly was silent for a moment before his ears perked up and he smiled wide. "I want to do something for you, but I need to ask you something."

"What would that be?"

"Would it be too much to have an official second date?"

Carmelita laughed and shook her head. "What's so special about the second date?"

"Well, if I have things right, it goes like this: On the first date, you're not supposed to kiss much. Like; a kiss on the cheek good-night and nothing else. On the second date is a first full passionate kiss, so it means a little more."

"You want a kiss after all the times we already did?" Carmelita was laughing about it now, but Sly was not really joking.

"Aww come on... After you leave, I could never do it again without sneaking into your apartment."

"That won't be wise... Do it too often and we both get caught, right?"

"Yeah. Not good. Are you doing anything Friday night?"

"Well, I was going to finish cleaning out my office so I can officially leave on Saturday. Why?"

"I'm gonna make Friday a special night for you. I promise. It'll be a way of saying goodbye to our life as a cop and robber. Give me Friday with you and you can forget all about a shaky relationship with a wanted criminal by Saturday."

Carmelita thought it over and smirked along with a cheerful reply "Alright. You want that Second-Date-Kiss so badly, then you can have it. What do you want to for the rest of our first date?"

"Something I really have wanted to do..."

"But...?"

"But you said that you can't do it yet."

Carmelita blushed and laughed again. "You... Well, I don't have to take you home yet..."

"Does that mean-" Sly's tail was swaying back and forth quite rapidly and his ears perked up.

But Carmelita stopped him again. "Hold your horses, Sparky. I meant what I said back there. You had me in the shower with you. I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I'm afraid I'm not letting you get farther than that."

"Ah, don't be sorry. I'm still satisfied at the moment."

Carmelita blushed again Sly simply chuckled at her "Good to know... Can we do something I've really wanted to do?"

"What would that be, Carm?"

"Lay down with me? I just want to know something..."

Sly nodded and complied. Carmelita slowly lowered her head towards the arm of the couch and Sly slowly did the same. She let him lay down on his side behind her and facing her back. She was midway between lying on her side and lying on her back, pressing her some of her weight into his and looking up at him with an almost shy smile. Sly hesitated to her doing something at first, but he relaxed and let her take his arm and drape it over her stomach.

They were like that for a few more hours in the same position before Sly heard her slow steady breathing indicating that she had fallen asleep like this.

He almost didn't want to move and disturb her, but his years of stealth would pay off as he slipped away and let her gently roll onto her back. He quickly laced up his shoes and was about to go before he realized he missed something. Quiet as ever, he approached her slowly and gently kissed her cheek, whispering a soft 'I love you' before he pulled up the blanket and left his Sleeping Beauty as she was.

His friends wanted to all about hear about how the date went and he laughed and said that it was a nice, quiet date. Bentley understood and made it clear to Murray that it was for Sly to tell at a time of his choosing.

"So Sly... Are you ready for the biggest mission of your life?"

"Ready? I mean, Bentley... You have a plan?"

"Not quite, I just wanted to show you what you'd be picking up on Friday." Bentley pulled up a few photos and showed Sly one of a diamond that made Sly's eyes light up in excitement.

This is big... The job itself is huge... I mean, that rock is just... huge!"

"I figured it should be a big one... And then the Cooper Gang will disappear off the map..."

"Are you sure about this?"

"Absolutely. It's perfect. As long as Inspector Fox doesn't become too hysterical..."

"Not that. I mean, are you alright with the Cooper Gang disappearing?"

"We'll be fine, Sly, I promise. It'll take a lot of stress off of Inspector Fox. Hopefully, the decision that she would be forced to make would yield a definite answer.

"I'm crossing my fingers, Bentley. I want things to go right."

"Well, we better start planning the job, then."

"Yes, let's do that!"

"Oh, and Sly?"

"Hmm?"

"Welcome home."

###


	17. The Greatest Heist & Epilogue

~Location: Varies - Paris, France~  
>~DateTime: Present Day (Seven Months Since Sly Disappeared), Mid-Afternoon to Night~

Carmelita didn't see Sly since that first date. The days before Friday evening passed uneventfully for the fox. Work had been rather slow since she dropped her two weeks' notice earlier in the month. Crime never stopped, but it didn't disturb the fox at all. Of course, reports came in to headquarters and had to be taken care of. The odd thing was that Carmelita wasn't assigned for any of them. All she had was some paperwork to take care of.

Her boss was rarely seen as well. Carmelita thought that he was simply training her replacement and didn't think much of it.

A few days before their date was supposed to take place, Bentley contacted the fox with a few details about Friday night. According to his instructions, she was to meet with a dress designer that would create her outfit for that night. What she didn't expect to happen was that her dress designer was none other than Dimitri Lousteau.

"Ey! Copper-Lady!" The lizard actually greeted her this time.

"What are you doing here?" Maybe she was still a bit moody to notice that he wasn't cowering.

"Cracker-box and I had a bit of a deal-e-oh to settle. He spelled out my IOU and wanted one last from me. I said to him that the IOU and his other vowels don't matter as long as I can show off my style."

"So, you're gonna dress me in a glittering dress?"

"Harsh Momma; glitter is funky, but not funky for want I'm putting on you."

"Alright, then. Show what you have."

True to his word, he didn't dress her up in something over the top. He fitted an elegant and sleek cream-white dress for her to wear. After giving her a private room to change in, she walked back into the room with the dress on. He stood back and admired his work, walking around Carmelita as she was elevated on a platform.

"I... am... good. You look foxy, Copper-Lady."

"It's a bit tight in a few areas."

"Darn... Well, I'm no magician, but leave it with me and it'll appear for you to wear on Friday."

Carmelita nodded and excused herself to take a call. It was Barkley. The news he was giving wasn't very good and he told her to come back as soon as she can.

According to her superior, the Felon's Law had been reviewed over some time. It was expected that the proposed bill would float around jurisdiction until it would either be accepted or rejected. Unfortunately, the Felon's Law was put into effect sooner than anyone expected. Standard issue weapons were going to be upgraded to allow a fatal charge to be administered. Carmelita's shock pistol received the same upgrade. There was a meeting that Barkley held himself on Thursday that instructed his officers on the protocol behind the new system. Once an officer in pursuit can identify the target as a wanted criminal on the loose, the information would be sent via radio and headquarters would confirm the target's status. The officer would then receive an authorization to use deadly force if necessary.

It would only be used against repeat offenders. Carmelita's heart sank as someone had posted a list of wanted subjects marked for death. Sly Cooper was among the names; close to the top of the list, to make it worse.

###

Friday couldn't come as soon as hoped for until Carmelita found herself slowly drove up to the restaurant. It was her unmarked cruiser, so it had a radio to headquarters on the dashboard.

She parked off to the side, getting out of the car and simply leaning on the door with a low sigh. The white dress that Dimitri had selected for her now hugged her curves and fit her perfectly. She continuously glanced at her watch, looking around for her date. Sly wasn't late. She was just early. Her nerves from Yesterday took a toll on her. She hadn't received a single word from Sly or any member of the Cooper Gang since the Felon's Law was publically announced. If she could only know that he was okay...

About a half-hour later, Sly was officially late and she was officially a nervous wreck. The sound of an alarm siren made her jump. That never happened before...

"All active units, report your status and current location." The voice on the radio was new, but Carmelita knew that she won't have to get used to it.

The fox responded over the radio and was informed on a jewelry store alarm being triggered. The owner of the business was present and mentioned the intruder taking off in a direction towards Carmelita's location. Her orders were to pursue and identify.

She drew out her pistol and waited for the figure to approach. Her eyes fell to the end of her pistol where the yellow-ish ring used to be. It was now replaced with a black ring at the end of the barrel, a constant reminder that she had the ability to kill. Not a nice thing to think about on a date...

The figure had stolen some loot as it was carrying a plump sack over its shoulder and behind its back.

"Freeze! Hands where I can..." The figure was illuminated under a streetlight, letting Carmelita get a clear glimpse of the raccoon. "C-Cooper..."

Sly started backing away from her before he turned and ran down the alley. The fox chasing him was not very happy. "How many times are you going to break my heart, you... Criminal!"

The alley that Sly ran into ended abruptly, the raccoon about to make his way up onto a roof before she pleaded for him to stop running.

"Sly, stop... If I lose sight of you, I have to call it in. Back-up won't hesitate to kill you anymore. Just let me cuff you this time."

Sly climbed down and nodded, dropping the sack and turning around with his arms behind him. "I'm sorry that I'm late for our date. Can I explain?"

She didn't say much as she harshly clasped the cuffs on his wrists. "Don't waste your breath..."

"Just please... Hear me out..."

Inspector Fox quickly turned him around, forcing him back into the wall like a common thief. Sly gasped as the lock-pick he slipped from his glove had fallen to the floor.

"No. You hear me out... I've loved you, Sly. Ever since I finally realized it, I've wanted us to be a normal couple. My job and your... hobby... always kept us apart. When you told me that you loved me, I was so happy to hear it. I hoped that you would settle down so we can be a couple, but... you kept using me... I don't know anymore."

"Carmelita, I... I do love you."

"How can I trust you? How can I know that this isn't some scam like your amnesia fake-out?"

"The only scam behind that was that I remembered everything. What happened between us was... real... I really do want that."

"So what does this robbery have to do with our date?"

"Maybe you should... secure the stolen goods."

The fox raised a brow at him, going over to inspect the large sack. Despite being full, it was surprisingly light. Carmelita opened it up and expected to find a collection of stolen gems but what she found was a collection of stolen pillows.

"Cooper... I don't understand you..."

She looked back to notice he was kneeling now, taking slow, deep breaths in and out. _"So now he realizes how serious this is."_

"Just keep looking. It's in there." _"So nervous..."_

Carmelita called back to her radio, giving dispatch an update on Cooper. "Target identified as Sly Cooper. Target is in custody. Stolen items are seized. Any word on what was reported stolen?"

"Copy that, Inspector Fox. The item reported stolen was a small black ring case. Confirm that the stolen goods are retrieved."

"Understood." Carmelita dug around in the sack, pulling pillows out and setting them aside until she found the black box tucked safe in the center.

"Dispatch, the case is secure." Carmelita heard a short, high-pitched noise in her ear-piece, adjusting it and trying again. "Did you get that, Dispatch?"

"Roger, Inspector, open the ring case." For some reason, the voice sounded familiar as if she heard it before, but different than the voice she heard just a few minutes ago.

Carmelita tucked her pistol into its holster and slowly opened the small black box. Inside was a gorgeous diamond ring. It made the fox's eyes light up like a brilliant star. Sly actually started counting the seconds that were passing while she was staring at the ring, still down on his knee and still handcuffed.

And then Carmelita remembered that she was on duty and that the ring was stolen property. "The ring is secured. What is to be of the suspect?" She glanced at Sly who was starting to sweat. _"Yeah... He gets it now."_

"Suspect confirmed as Cooper? Sly Cooper? Orders from headquarters are coming in now. Stand by."

Carmelita agreed and drew her modified pistol, raising it and aiming it at the raccoon.

This was his cue to speak up; sweating bullets as he spoke. "Before... You do it... Can I ask one question?"

"I suppose, Cooper. Ask away."

"Will you marry me?"

The fox was left dumfounded for a moment, taking into consideration that he was kneeling on one knee and he had provided a fabulous engagement ring.

The radio signaled before she could answer. "Inspector Fox?"

"D-Dispatch... Orders?"

"Orders are for you to say 'yes'."

###

Bentley cleared his throat, rolling back from a workstation to where the Thievius Raccoonus now rested. He pulled the book from its gravitational confinement field and opened it to an unfinished section.

_"Hmm... Where was I...? Oh yes..." _Keeping traditions alive, he picked up a quill and ink, starting to write.

"The entire idea was Sly's idea from the start, him telling us about it as soon as he came home. We didn't know how Inspector F- how Mrs. Cooper would react to it; even though we took precautions. Her shock pistol wasn't made lethal at all. In order for that to happen, we needed her boss's help. Obviously, she said yes. Although... She did question if the ring was stolen and he assured her that it was bartered for with the gems from Ancient Egypt. Technically, the payment was stolen, but she was a bit to delirious to care about that detail.

The second surprise was having the wedding that very night. Inspector Barkley walked her down the aisle, Murray and I were Sly's best men, and Penelope was the maid of honor after posing as Dispatch. The wedding went smoothly, the new bride blushing at every chance her husband had to kiss her.

The last thing I know about those two was that their honeymoon was set in Spain. I really shouldn't know anything after they were whisked away, but I do. I did hack into their hotel's internet server and routed myself straight to the browsing history of the computer in the Honeymoon Suite. A few searches at about midnight with search queries containing tags like 'unprotected', 'first time', and 'newlywed' gave me some personal insight as to their future. I'm leaving them on their own from now on.

We had another couple at the wedding. Our wolf comrade and his girl showed up. Diana Strauss still has her day-job as a psychic and Grimm became Carmelita's replacement in an international task force after donating nanotechnology to the medical field. Their relationship sounded cute and innocent until they came to the wedding. All I can say about that is as soon as Diana caught the bouquet, Grimm popped the question. Their whereabouts are currently unknown.

Dimitri returned to his party life and we all just let him do his thing. Murray and I see each other often... He runs a fitness gym down the street. Last I saw of him was one of his regular customers walking by his side after he closed the gym for the day. They looked like a cute couple.

As for myself? Well, when we found Penelope, I gave her instructions to meet me in front of a café. Instead of weapons-manufacturing, I talked her into a business proposal of manufacturing defensive systems. We took a break from that momentarily as she agreed to help me with the proposal and wedding. Lately-"

Penelope walked behind the turtle with a small grin, slowly rubbing his shoulders. "Almost done yet?"

"Yeah. Almost."

"Well, hurry up... You know I can't fall asleep without you."

"I'll be there in a minute."

As she turned and walked away to their bedroom, Bentley pressed the quill to the page to write one last sentence or two.

"Let's just say that a plutonic business partnership is now a romantic relationship again. I couldn't be happier."

Bentley closed the book once the ink dried and set the book back in its security field. He passed by the Cooper safe, testing the system on that before he joined Penelope in bed.

The End...?

###


	18. Bonus Chapter: Clockwerk's Origin

~Location: Palace Gates - Egypt~  
>~DateTime: 1300 B.C., Unknown~

Exiled...

Completely stripped of his rank, wealth, and power...

Pharaoh was no doubt displeased with assassins and thieves inside his palace. As acting head of security at the palace gates, whom else would Pharaoh confront other than his vizier, Ausar?

Despite learning that his faithful adviser had betrayed his trust, Pharaoh did not deal death to the owl. No... A much worse punishment was put into effect.

The wings that were prohibited to lift the owl higher than the Pharaoh's crown were bound in hot leather straps, now unable to open at all. Jewels and golden robes were removed, shaming the owl. One final instruction was given to the owl before the gates were shut on him.

Ausar had been instructed to march across the desert dunes until the sands ran out. When the owl did not understand, Pharaoh smirked and demanded that the owl walk to the edge of the desert sands or walk until the sand in his hourglass had fallen; whichever came first...

As Ausar began to follow this last order given to him, he saw the eyes of the rural city, no longer seeing him as a threat. Some even threw food at him in disgust; the three guards of the first patrol gave harsh glares as he walked past.

Even stripped of sandals, the hot sands started to burn the clawed feet of the owl as he walked. He screeched as his claw made contact with something hotter than the sand, examining the ground to find a hot metal shard under a few inches of sand. Among it were several other fragments of fabric and metal.

"This... This is where the shepherd fell from the sky..."

The shepherd... The shepherd was the trap-maker's accomplice. That cane that the shepherd had... The crest... The crest was similar to that of the trap-maker's own sickles. They were related...

Taking another step sent a sharp pain through his claw, the owl blacking out almost immediately.

###

~Location: Prehistoric Camp Grounds - Russia~  
>~DateTime: Unknown (Prehistoric, of course!), Unknown~

The owl had not much time to ponder what had hurt him before he found himself disoriented, regaining awareness and discovering that he was not where he was before. The campsite he was in had been hit with a massive storm of chaos; people wearing loincloths slowly rose if they were able to. Others had to be dragged away from him.

Away? Anyone still breathing either fled from him on their feet or on their backs, pulled away from the owl if he was considered a threat. Fear... Such a welcoming feeling... Seeing himself in the middle of a round crater in the ground, he noticed that the leather strap that bound his wings had been broken. His wings had not been bound long enough to do harm to them. He was uninjured.

The same couldn't be said in regards to the unfortunate ones that woke up to the terror before them. Their mouths dropped and they yelled, shouting inarticulate sounds before running away with the rest of them.

Ausar found it odd that they were struck speechless with his presence. Had he not been just banished? What rank did he have amongst these that did not speak?

His wings draped open, the wind found to be soothing against his feathers. Oh, how he wanted to take flight again. He was actually urged to do so when the primitive natives returned with sharpened sticks.

The owl spread his wings in a threatening display and gave a horrid screech once more. His opponents mostly turned tail and ran; those brave or foolish enough to proceed learned what a costly mistake it was to do so.

When one decided to throw a spear, the bladed edge of the wood made contact. The owl fled and took flight, taking refuge on a high mountain that would be later called 'Krack-Karov Volcano'.

Where was he? The owl perched to ponder for a moment, thinking it over. His mind fell to thinking of how bewildered his guard looked as he babbled a nonsensical story of a shepherd falling from the sky. He might not have fallen from the sky, but didn't the natives below react in a similar manner?

Yes. They feared him because he was foreign to them. It was very similar the story of the shepherd. He did not belong. But where did he come from? Why did the foreign shepherd carry a crook similar to the sickles of the trap-maker?

Unanswered questions angered the owl. After calming himself down, two questions remained to be answered.

Could he get back to his old life?

Hmph... An old life of being servant to Pharaoh... Everything was planned so that he could take power. He had wealth, nobility, and a reputation that meant he was feared. It had been taken from him.

Did he want to go back?

Well... He has no home... But... He was feared here. Feared indeed. The natives might understand ritual sacrifices to their Gods.

A god? Was he a god here? Hmm... A powerful being that struck fear if he should ever be angered and dealt death if he should ever be confronted. To be honest, he wouldn't be referred as a god, but immortalized by ancient natives as a legend.

Thus his fate would be decided. Immortalized in the stories to be forever remembered, 'visiting' the natives to remind them in case they should ever forget.

That is, until he was reminded of a wound that the spear-thrower had left on him. His body would not last for him to be called a legend. Once he died, the legend would die too.

After a while, perching like this was becoming painful on one of his claws. A glance down revealed that his talons had embedded themselves in an odd object that he did not recognize. This must be what caused him pain before he woke up here.

Attempting to slide it off his claw resulted in another small burst of pain before it was removed successfully. This time, the owl had not blacked out. He was still here... consciously and physically.

Little did he know that he discovered electricity... The application for this would come later. For now, it was good fortune that the Egyptian owl found shelter near a volcano, the rising thermal heat coupled with the harsh cold winds of icy Russia to make a suitable home. Supplies can always be acquired from the locals. They wouldn't mind sharing.

Ancient Egyptians had learned to smelt copper from ore and extract iron from fallen meteorites. Even these primitive beasts would learn to extract metal eventually. Ausar, native to Egypt, thus had several years of experience ahead of these beasts. He had the molten slag of the volcano as his source of metal; rich, organic soil to grow food; and melted ice and snow for water.

With the retrieval of the metal came some problems. His raw, forged metal was vulnerable when once again exposed to the high heat of the volcano. With time, that was resolved as a sturdy, magma-resistant metal had been created.

As the owl forged in his secluded lair, he often stole from those at the base of the mountain, stealing food along with supplies to heal wounds from previous battles.

Being injured too often became a problem. With time, his sturdy metal was forged into armor. It prevented most wounds from occurring, but was often too heavy for him to lift in flight with his wings. It produced unwanted fatigue.

Another problem arose, and with time, it was solved. The owl altered his diet for more energy, but was simultaneously harming his body by not taking in proper food.

The owl had a spark of insight, using something that had been provided. Discovering thermal energy far sooner than the modern civilized ever did, he sated his need for food with a short burst of electrical energy produced from the heat of his volcano.

To limit his need for his new source of power, he made a choice and painfully replaced his beautiful wings with metallic ones that would be surely strong enough to lift his body.

Failing and falling armor lead to the choice of welding metal together, feathers and flesh torn away and replaced with a seamless metallic shell. With time, this was complete.

The urge to just feed off of power rather than food overcame the owl, prompting the decision to remove food from his diet and ultimately replace his stomach with one that could obtain energy from any material.

Lungs went next, the owl discovering the power of the wind and essentially turning his lungs into wind turbines for a portable source of power.

Lesser organs went after that. Biological needs were in his way of becoming a divine legend and were thus removed.

The owl hesitated on replacing his circulatory system, due to the fact that his brain was dependent on a steady supply of blood. What if he removed his brain? That would also be a problem. It was currently running his entire frame. Mechanical organs still depended on a brain to direct his thoughts.

It was unclear how someone could do all these things to their own body or remain sane after each procedure, but... the owl had done it.

The final procedure to become completely mechanical would take a lot of time now. The owl did have an idea... The small mechanical thing that he had taken with him to his new home... The one his talon had stabbed and triggered in the first place...

It had what he needed to make a mechanical brain. Time didn't matter anyone more as he worked, self-teaching himself how to construct a simple computer and further advancing them at any opportunity he had.

About this time, the mindless natives below had gotten smarter, growing in packs with a select few having specific jobs. They were still so primitive. When his work hit a snag in its design, the owl took flight, mechanical wings now lifting a heavier metal frame much easier than his mortal form could ever accomplish.

It was on this casual flight, that the owl saw something of interest, perching up high to look down at the pathetic beings below him. The being that caught his attention was in the process of gathering food, the figure muscular and adept at climbing ice walls. The figure did have a tool that it used, said tool held by the creature's tail as it climbed. The crest of the tool... looked familiar... Why was he angry from seeing this beast? And... He had stolen a large egg...

The behemoth had stolen supplies... without metal? He was a better thief? This could not be allowed.

_"Cooper..."_ The owl had muttered the name in a cold voice that he now knew as his own before taking flight, having what he needed to complete his final project.

It was such a simple command to program into a computer chip. He sacrificed his memories as Ausar and replaced it with new memories in a rebirth in order to give his mechanical frame the eternal determination it needed. Out of pure jealousy and hatred, the mechanical owl would hunt and methodically eliminate any raccoon unfortunate enough to carry the familiar Cooper crest as their own.

With the final piece of his mechanic puzzle solved and the final piece of his mortality revoked, Ausar (under the later-given name of Clockwerk) was now immortal, even going as far as to replace each of his individual bones with pieces of metal that would operate in the same way as before right after his pesky nerves and blood vessels were viciously stripped for the addition of a mechanical heart and brain. How he even did this is unknown, but... he survived.

A final rite of passage to immortality was to sacrifice his mortal body to the flames of the volcano. Feather, flesh, and bone were no match for the molten material.

Ausar was dead. Clockwerk lived in his place.

With a triumphant vertical take-off, the owl once again screeched, reminding those below him that a beast ruled over their lives.

This beast then took off in a driven desire, pure anger fuelling the mechanic owl's rampage.

###

~Location: Varies~  
>~DateTime: Approximately 10,000 B.C. to Present Day~

Alas, his anger could not be sated now; the behemoth Cooper defeating the owl like how 'Bob' had learned how to knock some maternally-driven pterodactyl with his cane away like a housefly before escaping with her eggs.

The owl admitted defeat and fled.

Clockwerk didn't see the signature crest of his enemy's ancestry again until he flew over Ancient Egypt, not even remembering his mortal self anymore. Slytunkhamen Cooper's son had taught his own son the same trick that his father had taught him. It was now that Clockwerk was aware that each Cooper was spreading their secrets to the next Cooper.

Blinded by rage, Clockwerk's only method was to confront and kill any Cooper he saw. It was not to be as each Cooper he faced had bested him. He could not win.

The owl was also drawn to an unavoidable dilemma. His perfect, lava-resistant metal was rusting. Internal mechanical organs, his metallic shell, and even his symbolic wings would fall prey to this natural phenomenon.

The solution to this problem would take time. Although the bird had such time, he did not have a place to work. For this, he needed cheap, bountiful metal.

The hunt took him to the thriving metalwork industry in the late 17th Century. Below him, blacksmith's and forgers worked hard to build with the metal they found. He dove down to find a shop in a small town on a coastline of the North Atlantic Sea.

There he met the owner of the shop while attempting to steal some scrap metal. The rust had taken the time to manifest in visible locations on the metallic body. With the metallic bird wrapped in cloth, the owner of the forgery fearlessly caught the thief.

The owner, a slate-grey wolf in his early adulthood and his prime, confronted him. The thief decided to barter with the wolf, who then asked for payment in exchange for the stolen metal. The thief could not pay in currency and in returned offered something better. The wolf refused the proposal and the thief screeched a vicious threat before vanishing without a trace.

Other shop owners were less bold and gave the metal willingly. In 20 years, Clockwerk made himself a home and then focused on something revolutionary. He may not have understood exactly what it accomplished, but he focused on making machines and computers progressively smaller so that they could remove the small amounts of rust before they built up.

After celebrating a success by bathing in the hot lava from which he was forged, the owl remembered a threat that was left unfinished.

The owl returned to the small village that the blacksmith lived in, announcing his arrival by crashing into the barn and retaining no injuries.

Clockwerk left his mark on a male wolf in his early adulthood and prime but made a mistake. Instead of his intended target, he successfully attacked his target's son in law; this made clear by the fact that the wolf that lay before him wore an unrecognized silver necklace in the shape of a crescent moon.

The attack wasn't a total waste of effort. Upon bestowing some of his own machinery on to the wolf, Clockwerk had forged another plan in his wicked mind. Using her husband as his slave, he would corrupt his mind with anger and rage until he lashed out against his own wife. Thus, the scourge against the blacksmith was salvaged and Clockwerk would settle for killing the blacksmith's daughter.

What the owl didn't take into account actually worked into his favor. The townspeople grew rapidly afraid of the wolf-servant and accused Clockwerk's target as the culprit. They took matters into their own hands and hanged the young wife before imprisoning the owl's servant. Clockwerk considered the event to be a successful revenge plot and left. The wicked owl came back to watch the wolf mourn, finding it at intriguing that his subject did not physically age. Eventually, the owl grew bored over the uneventful years and completely left to not return again.

More Coopers faced and more losses were obtained against the owl. Not one Cooper died by his claw.

Throughout all of his failures against the Cooper's, one thing remained. While Clockwerk would rather attack directly to win, the Coopers were more prepared for that and could easily counter. It became clear that the owl needed assistance.

He met first with a frog that was of a supposed wealthy background. Grown up to lose appreciation of everything served to him, he caught Clockwerk's eye when the criminal life was one more worth living. This cheap mechanic would make short work of improving Clockwerk's lair for him into more of a fortress.

Clockwerk's next contact was a crocodile with skill in knowledge in the dark arts. Her purpose was in vengeance, summoned spirits were her only friends as she grew up and she wanted those who rejected her to pay for such a mistake. The owl expressed his interest in communicating with the spirits of the fallen Coopers in order to know what bested them in life. No spirits manifested out of fear, the crocodile says, but she crudely remarked how none of fell to Clockwerk.

A third colleague was a bulldog with an overly-muscular upper body, dominantly in his arms that he walked on more than his own legs. This member was also a character bent on vengeance, tormenting the bullies that teased him as he grew up when he met them again stronger than before. The bulldog was unfortunately dull-witted; his contribution to the gang was his contacts among the crime world.

Clockwerk picked up a final member of his team, a panda with advanced skill over pyrotechnics. Again, this new member was motivated by revenge. The panda officially caught the owl's attention when an uneventful fireworks display sparked a chain of events that thousands of innocent lives fell victim to. This panda had turned his art into a weapon, the owl asking if the same could be done for his technology.

As a gang of five, the gang built a reputation and a name. Clockwerk still had his intention on wiping the Cooper lineage away and he might've found a chance.

According to the bulldog, there was a Cooper living his life aside from thieving. The crocodile confirmed that he was a Cooper, but no longer a thief. Clockwerk hunted Connor Cooper alone for some time, making a strike when he saw that the raccoon was retiring from his day job as a computer technician. Armed with only a box of belongings, they scattered as the raccoon fell easily. Among the belongings was a photograph of Connor's family, a wife and young son. The raccoon pleaded for Clockwerk to spare their lives and take his, but the owl refused. Connor then made an agreement that he could offer his son's life. As along as his son, Sly, could grow up into a young man, Clockwerk would have the honor of killing a Cooper in their prime instead of killing a small child. The owl agreed to the proposal; secretly devising a plan to make the deal run in his favor.

As expected, Connor Cooper started teaching Sly at a young age. Either by directly teaching him or by Sly sneaking into his father's study to read a certain book, Sly would learn to be a master thief. Connor's wife was distraught of the news that her son was learning to steal when his father promised that the criminal life was over. Connor then explained the deal he made to his wife, saying that if Sly can learn these things, he would be able to fight and win. She left him with Sly to be a single father, only to be caught to be used as bait to lure Connor away. Due to the hostile conditions (the heat of the volcano or torture of captivity- unsure as to which), Connor's wife unexpectedly died and her Missing Person's case went cold.

Again, something coincidental worked in the villain's favor. Connor became ashamed of what he had done to betray his own family and his ancestors, tearing away at photos of himself so that no Cooper after him would remember it. He took Sly and fled, Clockwerk needing the rest of his gang to track him down for a final assault. While the deal was to not fight Sly until he reached adulthood, Clockwerk proceeded with murdering Connor and instructing his team to destroy the place. With the loss of his parents and family manual, Clockwerk believed that the young raccoon would never learn what he needed to become a true Cooper.

The gang of five split the loot and left. Clockwerk had his celebratory lava bath as he rejoiced in his victory. Finally... His claws have killed a Cooper... His plan to destroy the legacy they left would succeed. All he had to do was hunt and kill Sly when he was grown.

He didn't take Sly's will-power into consideration. Over the years as he grew, Sly assembled his own gang, much like his father before him. Determined to regain his family's honor, Sly methodically attacked each of the five members in the gang of villains and won. Seeing his colleagues jailed, Clockwerk took action and used the raccoon's love interest as bait.

In the end, Sly won. Clockwerk refused to listen to proposed flaws in his plan before he challenged Sly one-on-one.

Once Sly thwacked the bird's head off to float into the lava, Clockwerk's world went dark.

It didn't stay dark. Clockwerk's conscious mind still lived. It finally saw light when another bird had reassembled the parts into a near-complete frame. Negating the brain and Clockwerk's memories in the construction, the flightless bird had devised a complicated scheme to achieve immortality. Another conscious being binding with his metal frame would bind their 'souls'. Instead of the bird, another figure- a treacherous female tiger- sacrificed her organic body and bonded with the frame.

Clockwerk was officially dead. Clock-La lived in his place.

It was a short existence. Clockwerk had no previous memories, but fed his hatred to the tiger within him.

She enjoyed her freedom and the gift of flight before she was actively confronted. Her plan had not been completed and Clock-La was not truly immortal.

She took massive damage, managing to cripple a member of the Cooper Gang before she was deactivated. Once the core component, the Hate Chip, was removed and destroyed, Clockwerk finally saw permanent death. The tiger presumably died; still attached to his frame.


End file.
